Main  Lib. 


m 
1 


THE  ROBERT  E    COWAN  COLLECTION 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

P.  HUNTINGTON 

-JHNK,    .S'-7 

Accession  No,  /^^y^J'^   Class  No, 


3^3 


~.^IW 


The  Nicaragua  Canal 
and  other  es5ays 


RICHARD  H.  McDonald,  Ji 


UNIVERSITY 


THE  CAI.IFOKNIAX    i^LBLISHI 


TilNlVERSITY 


IxlCJlAKU    11.    .MtlJO.VAI.U,    Js 


THE   NICARAGUA   CANAL 


OTHER    ESSAYS 


POLITICAL  AND  ECONOMIC  TOPICS 


BY 

RICHARD   H.   McDonald,   Ji 


UNIVERSITY 


THE    CALIFORNIAN    PUBLISHING    COMPANY 

SAN    FRANCISCO,    CAL. 
1893 


% 


San  Fkamcisco  Printing  Comp 


PRBKACK        ^,eRA^ 

OF  THB 

aNIVERSITY 

The  following  papers  written  tor  the  CalifORNIAN  ILLUS- 
TRATED Magazine  are  reprinted  at  the  request  of  many 
interested  in  the  great  questions  of  the  day,  who  belie\-e 
that  the  principles  they  represent  should  l^e  circulated  broad- 
cast over  the  land.  If  they  aid  in  establishing  better  stand- 
ards in  political,  commercial  and  social  usage,  in  influencing 
any  citizen  to  take  a  firpier.  stand  for  all  that  is  good  and 
right  in  public  life,  then  the  purpose  of  the  writer  will  have 
been  served. 

R.  H.  McD.,  Jr 


San  Francisco,  Cal. 

April,   1893. 


CONTENTS 


I.  ThK    NlCAKAGl-A    CAXAI,        .  .  -  _  - 

II.  Is  Labor  Ix   Daxc.kk  !■  .... 

III.  RK(;ri..\Ti(ix  oi-  R.Mi.wAv  Cii.\Kt;Es 

I\'.  How  TO  .Skcure  Good  Mrxicip.vL  Govkrxmkxt 

\'.  Poi.rric.vL  Duty  of  C.\i.iforxiax.s 

\'I.  Our  Comjikrcial  Growth  axd  thk  T-VRiia' 

\'II.  Rkpi.y  by  I'.  vS.  vSkxator,  Stkphkx  M.  W'iiitk 

VIII.  The  Lessoxs  of  the  Late  (  1892)  Election 

IX.  B.\Li.oT  Reform  ---_.. 

X.  The  Daxc.er  to  the  Refi'ki.ic     - 


THE    NICARAGUA   CANAL 

AND  OTHER  naaA^a 


CHAPTER    I. 
THE    NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


r  is  not  my  purpose 
to  discuss  the  eugi- 
neering  prol)lem 
involved  in  the 
construction  of  the 
Nicaragua  Canal. 
The  route  has  been 
investigated  for 
quite  a  half  century  by  the  ablest  and 
most  experienced  of  the  engineers' 
profession,  and  not  alone  by  those 
whose  work  has  been  under  private 
employment,  but  by  engineers  de- 
tailed at  different  times  by  the  gov- 
ernment. Several  routes  have  been 
examined,  and  the  Nicaragua  has 
been  pronounced  the  best  of  all.  The 
route  is  feasible,  and  in  every  point  of 
view  the  enterprise  appears  to  be  prac- 
ticable. It  .seems  to  me  that  this 
point  has  pa.ssed  out  of  the  arena  of 
debate. 

The  cost  of  the  work  has  been  vari- 
ously estimated  ;  the  latest  I  have 
.seen,  and  I  believe  it  to  be  the  high- 
est, is  $87,000,000.  The  company 
engaged  in  its  construction  proposes 
to  rai.se  in  some  way  $100,000,000 — 
an   excess   of  $13,000,000  above   the 


estimated  cost — to  pay  interest  till  the 
canal  is  in  operation,  and  to  provide 
for  contingencies  that  ma}'  arise.  The 
sum  is  not  large  if  the  patronage  the 
canal  shall  receive  proves  to  be  anj-- 
thing  like  what  is  predicted  and  seems 
probable.  There  are  differences  of 
views  as  to  how  the  canal  shall  be 
constructed  and  controlled  when  in 
operation.  As  it  will  prove  most 
advantageous  to  our  own  commerce, 
and  as  under  public  control  excessive 
profits  will  not  be  made  on  the  money 
invested,  there  is  a  prevailing  senti- 
ment that  the  Government  should 
build  it,  and  manage  it  after  it  is 
built ;  that  it  .should  be  free  to  Ameri- 
can shipping,  and  a  tax  imposed  on 
foreign  patrons  only  to  an  extent  that 
is  necessary  to  pay  the  expense  of 
management  and  repair  and  a  reason- 
able income  on  the  cost  of  construction. 
The  Government  has  built  the  Des 
Moines  Canal,  improved  the  channels 
connecting  the  great  lakes,  blasted 
the  rocks  at  Hell  Gate  in  the  harbor 
of  New  York  in  order  to  facilitate 
navigation  through  Long  Island 
Sound,  jetteed  the  mouth  of  the  Mi.ss- 


THE    NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


issippi  River,  narrowed  the  cliamiel 
and  revetted  the  banks  of  tliat  river 
at  many  points  from  Cairo  to  the 
mouth,  and  has  expended  immense 
sums  during  the  last  seventy  years  in 
improvement  of  rivers  and  harbors  in 
every  part  of  the  nation.  To  build 
the  Nicaragua  Canal  out  of  the  public 
moneys  would  be  in  accord  with  the 
]iolicy  that  has  so  long  prevailed,  and 
is  clearly  within  conceded  constitu- 
tional authority.  In  some  quarters, 
however,  it  is  held  that  this  cannot 
l)e  done  on  account  of  existin,u  treaties 
with  other  powers;  or  lliat  eimsent 
to  this  cannot  now  be  obtained  from 
the  State  of  Nicaragua,  as  the  Govern- 
ment of  that  State  has  granted  the 
necessary  privilege  to  build  the  canal 
to  a  corporation  chartered  by  Congress. 
The  proposition  pending  is  for  the 
general  Government  to  indorse  its 
bonds  to  the  extent  of  $100,000,000, 
on  such  terms  and  restrictions  as  will 
give  the  Government  control  of  the 
ninnagement  of  the  canal,  and  secure 
it  against  loss.  If  this  is  the  best 
that  can  now  be  done,  the  aid  of  the 
Government  in  the  way  and  to  the 
extent  proposed  had  better  be  granted, 
as  control  of  .such  a  channel  across  the 
Continent  cannot  be  permitted  to  a 
foreign  nation  or  a  foreign  corpora- 
tion. Such  a  channel  in  time  of  war 
— a  possibilitj'  that  should  not  be  lost 
sight  of  even  in  these  "piping  times 
of  peace" — will  be  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  this  country.  Hence, 
assistance  by  the  Government  seems 
to  be  defensible  on  the  grounds  of 
good  policy,  if  not  of  absolute  neces- 
sity. The  people  of  this  country  will 
insist,  however,  that  gi)\'ernment  con- 
trnl  sli;ill  -n  {,,  the  extent  (if  prevent- 
in.L;  mire,i-.MH:iMc  I.. lis  la-ing  levied 
lipiiii  the  ((ininKree  that  shall  pass 
lliroiigh  the  canal.  The  value  of  such 
a  channel  of  commerce  to  the  people 
of  the  United  States  will  lieconie 
greater  as  time  advances. 

Our  country  is  very  large  territori- 
ally ;  productions  are  varied,  and  the 
wants  created  by  civilization  are  so 
extensive  that  an  interchange  of  com- 


modities has  become  enlarged,  and  a 
necessity  to  the  highest  human  hap- 
piness. There  are  comparatively  few 
nece.ssaries  or  luxuries  that  this  coun- 
trj^  does  not  produce,  and  our  people 
are  so  accu.stomed  to  their  consump- 
tion, that  not  to  be  able  to  obtain 
them  in  the  widest  range  would  be  a 
great  deprivation.  General  wealth  is 
so  nnich  greater  in  this  than  in  any 
other  iiatimi  that  what  would  be  re- 
garded a^  luxuries  elsewhere,  are 
here  deemed  necessaries  of  life.  Our 
people  consume  more  per  capita  than 
an}-  other,  and  our  rapidly  increasing 
numliers  and  wealth  render  e.s.sential 
certain  requirements  which  in  former 
times  wotild  have  been  regarded  as 
artificial.  Demand  for  consumption 
stimulates  production,  and  where  pro- 
duction is  mo.st  abundant  consumption 
is  greatest.  We  are  the  greatest  pro- 
ducing nation  in  the  world.  Our 
domestic  commerce  has  reached  such 
gigantic  proportions  that  it  is  now 
more  than  six  times  greater  than  the 
foreign  commerce  of  Great  Britain — 
its  mo.st  important  channels  being 
from  east  to  west,  between  the  .sections 
adjacent  to  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
Coasts.  No  .section  of  the  nation  is 
so  rapidly  increasing  in  population 
and  wealth  development  as  that  which 
comprises  the  Pacific  States.  The 
trade  between  the  people  of  the  East 
and  West  has  already  grown  to  im- 
mense proportions,  and  the  increase 
in  future  will  be  in  arithmetical  pro- 
gression. The  products  of  California 
are  of  such  character  that  they  will 
l>e  in  the  future,  as  they  are  now,  de- 
manded largely  in  the  Ea.st,  and  if 
they  cannot  be  obtained  here  in  suf- 
ficient quantities  to  .suppl>'  that 
demand  they  will  be  sought  lor  in 
foreign  countries. 

It  is  mo.st  essential  to  the  general 
welfixre  that  cost  of  tran.sportation 
.should  be  reduced  to  the  utmost  prac- 
ticable extent,  otherwi.se  interchange 
of  commodities  between  the  various 
sections  of  our  country  will  be  re- 
stricted and  production  discouraged. 
Cost   of   transportation   is   the  crying 


THE     NICARAGUA    CANAL 


evil  in  California ;  the  people  feel 
embarrassed  and  cramped  in  their 
energies,  and  are  struggling  for  relief 
The  railroads  across  the  continent 
were  constructed  at  great  cost,  and 
their  maintenance  and  operation  are 
and  always  will  be  expensive.  Com- 
l)laints  of  the  excessive  rates  of  trans- 
portation are  universal  ;  our  grain, 
and  especially  our  fruits  and  '  wines 
are  cut  off  from  the  markets  of  our 
own  country  by  competition  of  for- 
eigners, who  can  produce  more  cheaply 
and  are  subject  to  less  cost  for  trans- 
portation. The  tran.sportation  problem 
is  among  the  greatest  wliich  now 
confronts  the  American  people.  That 
by  water  should  be  and  is  cheaper 
than  that  by  rail,  and  for  the  very 
good  rea.son  that  the  railwa\'  track  is 
built  with  money,  and  its  maintenance 
is  expensive.  The  track  of  the  ship 
at  .sea  is  provided  and  maintained  by 
nature.  It  is  true  the  Nicaragua 
Canal  will  be  built  with  money,  and 
its  care  and  management  will  be 
attended  with  some  expense,  but  it  is 
an  inconsideral)le  part  in  point  of  dis- 
tance of  the  route  over  which  ships 
must  travel  from  one  side  of  the  con- 
tinent to  the  other.  Its  con.struction, 
therefore,  ought  to  materially  lessen 
the  charges  for  trans-continental  trans- 
portation. It  will  inevitably  produce 
that  result  uiile.ss  there  is  a  combina- 
tion between  rail  and  water  lines  to 
maintain  high  rates.  This,  however, 
will  not  likely  take  place,  as  such  an 
arrangement  would  have  the  effect  to 
divert  traffic  from  the  ships,  and 
would  not  add  to  tlie  profits  of  .ship 
owners.  Land  and  water  lines  are 
usualh-  persistent  in  their  rivalries, 
and  there  is  such  a  feeling  in  the 
cciuntry  against  railroads  on  account 
of  their  excessive  charges,  as  they  are 
Ix'Iieved  to  be,  that  it  might  be  peril- 
ous for  the  roads  to  combine  with  and 
suljsidi/c  ^Icanislii]!  lines  in  order  to 
perpetuaU-  .,  xm  l>ilant  charges.  Such 
coml)inaUiiu  is  a  remote  possibility. 

That  not  \-ery  high  tolls  would  pay 
expenses  of  repairs  and  management 
of  the  canal,   and  a  sum  sufficient  to 


pay  interest  and  principal  of  the' 
bonds,  can  hardly  be  doubted,  for 
traffic  from  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf 
Coasts  and  from  Europe  —  destined 
northward  as  far  as  there  is  any  appre- 
ciable trade,  and  southward  as  far  as 
Chili  on  the  Pacific  Coast — would  find 
it  advantageous  to  patronize  the  canal 
on  account  of  the  great  distance  that 
would  be  saved  ;  and  the  same  would 
be  true  as  to  return  traffic.  It  would 
.seem  that  the  patronage  must  become 
so  great  that  with  extremely  moderate 
tolls,  the  revenues  would  speedily 
become  large.  Inter-continental  com- 
merce would  also  be  diverted  to  that 
route,  and  from  the  trans-continental 
railroads.  It  would  not  only  take 
from  that  which  is  now  carried  by 
way  of  the  Horn  and  the  Isthmus, 
but  by  the  Canadian  Pacific,  which 
has  become  so  serious  a  rival  of  our 
own  tran.s-continental  rail  lines. 
Freights  from  China,  Japan  and 
other  Asiatic  countries  destined  to  the 
eastern  part  of  liritish  America  ought 
to  be  cheaper  than  bv  the  Canadian 
Pacific. 

To  les.sen  the  cost  of  transportation 
would  enhance  values  of  California 
productions  and  give  stimulant  to  the 
development  of  the  State's  resources. 
Our  products  are  alread}'  of  large 
variety  and  immense  in  quantity,  and 
are  destined  to  reach  almost  incom- 
prehensible proportions.  We  now 
need  all  the  markets  we  can  get  in 
the  East,  and  in  future  the  need  will 
be  greater  ;  but  it  will  be  impossible 
for  us  to  command  them  in  competi- 
tion with  foreign  producers,  if  they 
have  any  sub.stantial  advantage  in  the 
cost  of  transportation.  No  part  of  the 
nation  will  be  more  benefited  by  the 
Nicaragua  Canal  than  California. 
The  canal  will  enhance  the  importance 
of  San  Francisco  as  a  commercial  cen- 
ter ;  as  a  distributing  point  its  terri- 
tory has  been  invaded  on  the  north 
and  on  the  south  bj-  rail  lines  leading 
from  the  East  to  the  principal  cities  of 
Washington  and  Oregon,  and  to  Los 
Angeles.  It  will  be  the  termimis  of 
all    steam.ship    lines    to    this     coast. 


THE    NICARAGUA    CANAL. 


Their  ships  may  call  al  ports  south- 
ward, but  they  will  hardly  extend 
their  voyages  northward,  and  their 
cargoes  will  largely  be  distributed 
from  this  city.  So  also  will  exports 
concenter  here.  Carrying  upon  the  .sea 
is  now  most  largely  done  by  regular 
steamship  line.s  whose  termini  are 
the  larger  cities,  from  which  merchan- 
dise is  di.stribiited  to  points  of  con- 
sumption. There  has  been  a  tendency 
to  this  for  more  than  a  third  of 
a  century,  ever  .since  iron  ships 
liave  come  into  use,  and  it  has  been 
demonstrated  that  building  those  of 
large  tonnage  is  economical  and  safer. 
Regularity  in  departure  and  arrival  is 
a  feature  that  has  become  regarded  as 
essential  to  success.  Concentration 
will  be  greater  than  it  now  is,  for  the 
great  cities  are  better  supplied  with 
facilities  for  reaching  trade  di.stricts 
than  the  smaller  ones.  In  my  hum- 
ble judgment,  the  trade  of  San  Fran- 
cisco will  he  immeasurably  increased 
by  the  construction  of  the  canal  ;  and 
.since  trade  causes  active  demand  for 
money,  it  gives  impetus  to  industrial 
development. 

The  disclosure  in  Paris'of  the  cor- 
ruption in  connection  with  the  Panama 
Canal  is  unfortunate,  and  especially 
at  this  time.  It  may  have  the  effect 
to  deter  Senators  and  Representatives 
from  giving  support  to  any  measure  of 
assistance  for  the  Nicaragua  enterprise. 
There  are  suspicious  people  the  world 
over,  and  there  are  also  men  who 
shrink  from  doing  what  their  better 
judgment  commands  tlirt)ugh  tear  of 
as.sault  or  criticism.  Because  the  sup- 
port   of    de]nities    and    other    French 


officials  was  purcha.sed,  it  ought  not 
to  be  presumed  that  American  Con- 
gressmen were  purcha.sed,  should  they 
support  a  reasonable  measure  of  aid  to 
this  great  American  project.  The 
plan  has  been  frankly  laid  before  the 
public  and  has  received  the  fullest 
consideration,  both  through  the  news- 
papers and  in  public  meetings.  Sen- 
timent seems  to  be  quite  unanimous 
in  favor  of  doing  what  may  be  neces- 
.san-  to  secure  the  construction  of  this 
great  national  highway  ;  it  is  a  matter 
in  which  all  parts  of  the  country  are 
interested  to  a  greater  or  less  extent. 
In  my  opinion,  support  of  it  by  Sena- 
tors and  Representatives  will  not  be 
criticised,  but  approved.  The  Panama 
Canal  was  a  scheme  of  Louis  Napo- 
leon when  he  meditated  conquests  of 
the  countries  in  the  .southern  part  of 
North  America.  Without  this  the 
Panama  Canal  would  be  of  no  more 
consequence  to  France  than  to  other 
commercial  nations  of  Europe,  as  it 
would  not  connect  her  possessions,  or 
con.stitute  a  nece.s.sary  channel  of  com- 
merce between  her  and  her  depend- 
encies. There  are  those  who  doubt 
the  practicability  of  the  Panama 
scheme,  and  it  is  certain,  if  the  opin- 
ions of  engineers  are  to  control,  that 
the  Nicaragua  enterpri.se  is  by  far  the 
most  feasible.  The  canal  under  dis- 
cussion affords  facilities,  e.specially  to 
the  American  people,  for  intercourse 
between  the  extremes  of  the  country. 
It  is  a  .scheme  to  promote  our  be.st  in- 
terests, and  to  .support  any  rea.sonable 
measure  would  not  be  regarded  as  pro- 
ceeding from  C()rrn])t  influences,  but 
from  tile  hi-liest  i)aUiotic  motives. 


^  w^. 


^ 


CHAPTER   II. 
IS    LABOR    IN    DANGER? 


IT  could  not  be  otherwise  than  that 
the  immense  fortunes  acquired  in 
the  last  thirty  }'ears  by  a  few  men 
in  this  country,  should  be  the  subject 
of  serious  reflection  as  to  the  future 
effect  upon  the  mass  of  the  people  and 
upon  the  character  of  our  institutions. 
There  are  those  who  express  alarm  at 
the  immen.se  chasm  which  separates 
the  very  opulent  from  the  va.st  major- 
ity of  the  population,  and  a  fear  that 
as  a  nation  we  shall  drift  into  a  gov- 
ernment, aristocratic  in  form  and  which 
will  be  controlled  by  the  monetary 
power.  In  tlie  old  world,  both  mon- 
archy and  aristocracy  are  based  upon 
wealth.  A  poor  duke,  lord  or  count 
in  Europe  may  nominally  have  a 
social  status  corresponding  to  his  rank, 
but  among  the  wealthy  the  impecun- 
ious duke,  lord  or  count  is  regardea 
by  his  class  very  much  as  the  poor 
whites  of  the  South  were  looked  upon 


Ijy  the  slaves.  There  can  be  no  cloul>t 
that  the  immense  disparity  which 
exists  in  this  country  in  the  posses- 
sion of  wealth  is  unfavorable  to  the 
future  welfare  and  happiness  of  the 
mass  of  the  people,  and  that  under 
favorable  conditions  there  might  be 
danger  that  popular  liberty  would  be 
overthrown.  The  pes,simist  is  liable 
to  take  a  lugubrious  view  of  the  sub- 
ject, while  the  optimist  discovers  only 
the  roseate  side  of  the  picture.  Neither 
is  likel}'  to  take  a  rational  and  just 
view  of  the  situation.  It  is  well  to 
inquire  how  the  disparity  in  the  po.s- 
sessiou  of  wealth  came  about,  and 
whether  it  is  probable  that  it  will  con- 
tinue to  the  extent  that  it  new  exists. 
It  is  well  to  inquire  also  whether  there 
are  not  influences  at  work  which  will 
cau.se  a  redi.stribution  and  produce  a 
more  general  equality  of  conditions. 
The  laws  of  this  countrv  a.ssure  the 


IS    LABOR    IN    danger; 


greatest  liberty  in  the  exertion  of  the 
])o\vers  with  which  men  are  endowed 
by  nature  to  acquire  dominion  over 
the  things  of  earth,  consistent  with 
tlie  common  welfare.  The  opportuni- 
ties for  acquiring  wealth  have  been 
without  parallel,  more  especially 
within  the  last  third  (if  a  cc-iitury. 
The  countrj'  ])lls^c■-^L•ll  \,ist  natural 
resources,  and  the  freL-duni  and  energy 
of  the  people  contributed  to  the  devel- 
opment of  wealth  more  rapidly  than 
ever  before  known  in  the  history  of 
mankind.  Increa.se  of  population  nat- 
urally appreciates  values.  Before  the 
passage  of  the  homestead  law,  the  pub- 
lic domain  could  he  ac<|uired  at  merely 
nominal  oust,  and  lai^e  budies  were 
pnrclia>ed  by  indi\idual,s  who  only 
had  to  hold  on  and  wait  to  become 
wealthy.  Through  this  method  the 
l)asis  of  consideralde  fortunes  was  at 
fir.^t  laid,  the  greatest  of  which  were 
acquired  by  those  who  were  fortunate 
enough  to  locate  on  what  became  city 
and  town  sites.  Railwa\s  were  in- 
vented, and  their  construction  not  only 
was  profitable  to  the  builders,  but 
eidianced  values  immensely,  especially 
at  terminal  points.  The  war  of  the 
Rebellion  ensued,  creating  high  prices 
fir  llie  ]>nidncts  of  the  farm  and 
f  ictoi\  .  and  the  inevitable  inflation  of 
l!ie  circtilaling  medium  engendered 
the  spirit  of  speculation  ;  and  though 
the  war  was  immensely-  deslrucli\e  of 
men  and  materials,  it  stinuilated  enter- 
prise, andourtremendousilevel.ipnient 
ga\-e  iiii]ielus  1(1  hnvi-u  immigration. 
Tile  mania  for  railway  building  after 
the  war  iiecame  greater  than  ever 
bef  ire,  because  not  only  the  needs  of 
the  country,  but  the  liberality  of  the 
people  superinduced  it.  Large  for- 
tunes were  made  in  construction,  and 
tile  vast  quantities  of  .securities  of  the 
nation,  states,  nuuiicipalities  and  cor- 
])orations,  which  were  on  the  market, 
afforded  opportunity  for  the  most 
gigantic  .speculation.  In  this  .specu- 
lation large  numbers  of  people  partici- 
])ated  and  lost  through  the  manipula- 
tion of  inside  o])erators,  who  amassed 
immense  wealth. 


In  various  ways  land  monopoly,  to 
an  exLciit,  became  fastened  upon  the 
country.  Large  bodies  were  acquired 
before  the  homestead  law  was  enacted, 
and  are  jet  held  to  a  considerable 
extent.  The  great  plantations  in  the 
South  have  survived  slavery.  The 
public  lands  of  Texas  were  .sold  off  in 
considerable  bodies  under  the  laws  of 
that  State,  and  in  the  acquisition  from 
Mexico  under  the  treaty  of  Guadaloupe 
Hidalgo,  our  Government  .stipulated  to 
respect  the  rights  of  property  in  the 
territory  acquired  as  they  existed 
under  Mexican  law,  and  hence  became 
bound  to  recognize  the  iramen.se  grants 
of  land  that  liad  been  made  by  the 
Spanish  and  ,Mrxi(/an  governments. 
These  are  Uie  cliaf  ways  in  which 
ponderous  Rirtunes  have  been  acquired. 
Those  of  lesser  magnitude  have  been 
achieved  in  manufacturing  and  traffic, 
and  to  .some  extent,  bj-  the  exercise  of 
the  stronger  powers  with  which  some 
have  been  favored  by  nature,  and  the 
greater  thrift  and  prudence  with  which 
earnings  and  acquisitions  have  been 
husbanded.  The  same  or  similar  op- 
portunities can  never  again  present 
themselves.  There  are  comparatively 
little  new  resources  to  be  discovered  or 
new  regions  to  be  developed.  Rail- 
road building  in  future  will  be  trifling 
compared  with  what  has  been  done  in 
the  pa.st.  Appreciation  of  land  values 
will  be  gradual,  and  comparativelj^ 
few  more  cities  and  towns  are  to  be 
founded  and  built  tip.  We  are  not 
likely  to  have  another  gigantic  war, 
internecine  or  foreign,  to  inflate  prices 
and  promote  .speculation.  The  course 
of  business  in  all  probability  will  be 
natural,  and  results  not  excessively 
profitable. 

Cai)ital  is  comparatively  so  abund- 
ant that  if  competition  is  permitted  to 
have  sway  it  will  not  expect  nor  .seek 
such  inordinate  remuneration  in  the  fu- 
ture as  it  has  exacted  in  the  past.  It  is 
true  that  it  has  adopted  the  plan  of 
forming  trusts  and  combinations  to 
control  production  and  distribution, 
but  congress  and  legislatures  have 
taken  action  in   main-  cases  to  thwart 


IS    LABOR    IN    DANGER: 


such  schemes,  and  the  courts  in  many 
parts  of  the  country  have  declared 
them  contra  bonos  mores  and  unhiwful. 
Popular  sentiment  is  so  aroused  that 
capital  finds  it  much  more  difficult  to 
be  exacting  and  oppressive  than  it  has 
been.  Capital  will  only  disregard 
popular  interests  when  the  people  are 
supine.  It  seems  in  the  natural  course 
of  events  that  there  will  not  be  extra- 
ordinary opportunities  for  the  few  to 
amass  fortunes  in  future.  The  .serious 
question  is,  will  those  which  now  exist 
be  continued  or  grow  larger  thiough 
mere  accretion  ? 

The  iierpetuatiou  of  the  great  estates 
in  the  old  world  has  been  through  the 
instrumentality  of  law — the  law  of 
primogeniture.  It  has  not  been  in 
force  in  this  covintry  for  more  than  a 
century,  and  was  superceded  by  a  law 
governing  the  descent  and  distribu- 
tion of  property,  which  has  had  the 
effect  to  break  estates  into  fragments 
on  the  decea.se  of  their  po.sses.sors. 
When  the  life  of  each  generation  ter- 
minates, the  property  of  the  country 
passes  into  new  and  more  numerous 
hands.  None  of  the  inimen.se  con- 
cessions made  by  the  kings  of  Eng- 
land and  Holland  to  the  colonists 
within  the  limits  of  what  constitute 
the  United  States,  have  been  main- 
tained ;  they  have  been  subdivided 
into  small  jiarcels  and  are  now  owned 
anil  occupied  by  large  numbers  of 
people.  In  the  same  way  the  existing 
great  landed  estates  will  be  subdivided 
on  the  decea.se  of  the  present  pos.se.ss- 
ors.  Very  few  of  the  e.states  of  this 
country,  whether  consisting  of  realty 
or  personalty,  have  passed  unimpaired 
to  the  second  generation  from  the 
acquisitors.  More  than  eighty  per 
cent,  of  the  wealthy  men  of  the  nation 
have  acquired  what  they  po.s.sess,  and 
only  ten  per  cent,  have  inherited  it. 
The  rule  is  general  that  the  sons  of 
rich  men  end  life  as  poor  as  their  fath- 
ers began  it.  Great  achievements  in 
science,  art,  the  professions,  war, 
.statismanship  and  business  pursuits 
have  generally  Vjeen  by  the  sons  of 
men  in   indifferent  or   moderate   cir- 


cumstances. Results  in  this  countr\- 
are  not  to  be  judged  by  those  in  the 
old  world.  There  are  tho.se  who  nia\ 
regard  the  present  situation  as  gloomw 
but  when  we  consider  the  freedom 
enjoyed  under  our  institutions,  and  the 
causes  at  work  which  revolutionize 
conditions  quickly,  there  is  no  rea.son 
for  that  forlorn  feeling  which  fills  the 
mind  of  the  pessimi.st.  Those  who 
survive  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  will, 
in  all  probability  see  the  bulk  of  the 
present  ponderous  estates  broken  uj) — 
especially  the  landed  estate.s — for  time, 
popular  sentiment,  and  the  laws  of 
de.scent  and  distribution  will  inevi- 
tably soon  destroy  land  monopoly. 
Inequality  in  the  po.sse,ssion  of  mo\- 
able  propertj-,  especially  of  money  or 
securities,  is  not  a  serious  danger,  for 
they  are  like  the  .stolen  pur.se  men- 
tioned by  lago,  as  having  been  mine, 
yours  and  the  slave  of  thousands. 
There  is  very  little  permanency  in  the 
possession  of  personalty. 

It  is  argued  that  as  no  man  has 
ever  been,  or  ever  will  be  strong 
enough  to  earn  a  million  dollars  above 
his  living,  however  prolonged  his 
life,  every  millionaire  and  multo-mil- 
lionaire  has  taken  largely  from  the 
earnings  of  others.  To  an  extent  this 
has  been  done,  .sometimes  through 
fortuitous  circumstances  in  which 
there  has  been  no  moral  guilt,  and 
sometimes  through  oppressive  prac- 
tices. It  is  probably  true  that  labor 
has  not  received  its  proper  share  of 
produced  wealth.  High  .statistical 
authorities  differ  .somewhat  as  to  the 
percentage  which  labor  in  this  coun- 
try contributes  to  wealth  production, 
the  lowest  estimate  being  seventy-two 
per  cent,  and  the  highest  ninety. 
Upon  either  estimate  it  is  certain  that 
labor  has  not  had  its  fair  share.  Cap- 
ital has  managed  to  pos.sess  the  pro- 
porcion  which  nature  has  created, 
which  is  estimated  from  ten  to  twenty- 
eight  per  cent.  Capital  is  more  organ- 
izible  than  labor,  and,  in  fact,  may  be 
said  to  be  always  organized,  and  it  is 
more  exacting  than  labor  has  been. 
The  modern  practice  being  for  capital 


LABOR    IN    danger; 


to  organize  llirough  corporation,  com- 
pany or  association,  it  seems  more 
formidable  than  in  reality  it  is,  because 
the  fact  that  stocks  and  bonds  or 
shares  are  widely  distributed  and  are 
held  by  numerous  persons,  is  not  duly 
considered. 

The  tendency  has  been  and  is 
strongly  to  combination  in  many 
branches  of  business.  This  is  true 
in  transportation,  manufacturing, 
banking  and  in  all  lines  of  produc- 
tion and  distribution  of  commodities. 
It  is  a  recognized  fact  that  competi- 
tion has  been  very  largely  displaced 
by  combination.  Comprehending  this 
and  seeing  that  there  is  a  vast  dispar- 
ity in  the  po.s.se.ssion  of  wealth,  the 
working  people  of  the  country  have 
adopted  the  plan  of  meeting  combina- 
tion with  combination,  or  in  other 
words  by  forming  labor  organizations. 
As  transportation  by  rail  and  manu- 
facturing as  now  carried  on,  require 
the  services  of  large  numbers  of  men, 
organization  is  practicable.  The  same 
is  true,  only  to  a  less  extent,  in  the 
building  and  some  other  trades.  The 
object  of  the.se  organizations  is  to  com- 
pel capital  to  concede  to  labor  what  it 
deserves.  Such  an  object  is  proper 
and  praiseworthy  if  the  measures 
resorted  to  are  defensible.  To  arouse 
labor  .so  that  it  will  assert  its  rights, 
demagogues  and  mountebanks  are  in 
the  haliit  of  .so  assailing  capital  as  to 
create  a  feeling  of  intense  hostility. 
Labor  and  cnpital  are  natural  antagon- 
isms liitausc  their  interests  collide. 
Tile  rehitions  of  the  employer  and 
employe  are  like  those  of  the  .seller 
and  the  buyer.  Low  wages  are  be.st 
for  one  and  high  wages  are  best  for 
the  other.  To  produce  .successfully 
requires  l)oth  lalior  and  capital,  and 
each  should  tie  fairly  rewarded.  If 
cajiital  is  exacting  and  oppressive 
labor  organizations  some  times  make 
mistakes,  some  of  which  are  of  the 
most  grievous  character. 

One  of  them  is  in  supposing  inihlic 
sympathy  is  not  strongly  on  tlie  side 
of  wage  workers.  Many  ameliora- 
tions have  been  voluntarily  granted. 


Xol  very  far  in  the  past  men  were 
imprisoned  for  debt.  That  barbarous 
law  has  been  displaced  by  one  that 
exempts  the  homestead,  certain  house- 
hold goods,  and  implements  necessary 
to  the  earning  of  a  livelihood  from 
seizure  and  .sale  to  satisfy  a  private 
debt.  Schools  are  established  sup- 
ported by  a  public  tax  at  which  all 
children  are  educated  free  of  charge. 
Infirmaries  and  ho.spitals  are  provided 
for  the  poor  and  the  sick.  A  senti- 
ment IS  growing  which  favors  the 
exemption  of  homesteads  of  limited 
value,  and  some  other  property  from 
taxation,  and  in  favor  of  graduated 
income  and  inheritance  taxes,  which 
will  lighten  the  burdens  of  those  who 
live  by  toil,  and  impose  them  in 
accordance  with  ability  to  bear 
them. 

Another  and  most  grievous  mistake 
has  been  made  in  the  matter  of  strikes. 
They  have  often  been  attended  with 
mob  violence  and  incendiarism.  De- 
.struction  of  property  and  interruption 
of  business  do  no  one  any  good,  and 
result  in  calamity  to  the  public. 
Strikes  are  defensible  only  to  the 
extent  of  a  cessation  of  work  when 
terms  are  unsatisfactory;  but  to  inter- 
fere with  others,  who  wish  to  work  on 
the  terms  offered,  by  violence  or  intim- 
idation is  a  crime,  for  there  is  no  dif- 
ference in  principle  in  destroying  a 
man's  property  than  in  preventing 
him  from  earning  property.  To 
ignore  contracts  as  to  term  or  other 
condition  of  .service  is  both  unlawful 
and  di.shonorable  whether  by  employer 
or  employe.  Still  another  error  is  in 
making  an  unchangeable  scale  of 
wages,  one  that  is  non-reducible. 
Conditions  are  not  always  the  .same. 
This  year  the  volume  and  character 
of  the  traffic  or  the  prices  of  products 
may  be  such  that  the  railroad  or  the 
manufacturer  is  able  to  make  a  fair 
profit,  but  next  year  conditions  may 
lie  reversed,  and  at  the  same  .scale  of 
wages  there  will  be  no  profit,  or  per- 
haps a  I0.SS.  Labor  organizations 
should  have  men  whose  business  is  to 
gain  a  knowledge  of  all  the  facts  am^ 


IS    LABOR    IN    UANGBR: 


circumstances  astlie\  arise,  that  wages 
may  be  so  rt,milatL(l  that  labor  and 
capital  will  each  recLi\-e  its  fair  share 
of  the  results  of  the  business.  One 
fact  especially,  is  not  always  duly  con- 
sidered, and  this  is  that  capital  under 
the  laws  as  they  now  are,  takes  all  the 
hazards  of  loss,  and  the  laborer  takes 
none.  The  law  gives  him  a  fir.st  lien 
on  the  property  of  his  employer. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  in  many  enter- 
prises classification  of  labor  is  a  neces- 
-sity,  growing  out  of  the  employment 
of  large  numbers  who  have  clas.sified 
services  to  perform.  Men  are  unequally 
endowed  by  nature,  and  it  is  presum- 
able that  it  is  the  intention  of  the  Cre- 
ator that  each  should  receive  the  full 
benefit  of  his  legitimate  efforts.  The 
time  was  when  the  working  man  had 
a  status,  and  received  wages  accord- 
ing to  his  merits.  As  it  now  is,  in 
many  kinds  of  work  where  classifica- 
tion is  necessarj'  the  weakling,  the 
dull  and  the  shirk  receive  as  much  as 
the  strong,  bright  and  faithful.  The 
employer  is  bound  to  take  the  lot  at 
the  same  wages,  which  takes  from  the 
deserving  for  the  benefit  of  the  unde- 
.serving.  Probaljly  for  this  there  is  no 
remedy.  It  is  one  of  the  evils  that 
result  from  associated  labor.  It  would 
be  well  if  there  could  be  competition 
in  labor  and  in  everything  else.  To 
a.ssure  to  all  the  full  benefits  of  their 
efforts  is  a  tremendous  stimulant  to 
exertion. 

There  .should  be  no  animosit\-  be- 
tween capital  and  labor,  and  tliere 
need  be  none  if  their  relations  and 
interests  are  intelligently  and  justly 
considered  on  both  sides.  Capital 
.should  not  be  exorbitant,  and  labor 
should  exact  only  what  is  its  due. 
The  principle  must  be  recognized  that 
all  are  free  to  join  labor  organizations 
or  not,  as  they  choose.  There  should 
be  no  compulsion.  The  mass  of  the 
American  people  are  in  sympathy  with 
the  wage  workers.     Their  sympathies 


have  sometimes  hi.cn  rstianged  by  the 
excesses  which  ha\c  aii>  iidtd  strikes, 
and  the  destrudix  c  lcachni,i;s  and  con- 
duct of  some  of  the  laljor  leaders. 
There  is  no  country  in  the  world 
where  economic  policies  have  been 
based  so  completely  upon  the  idea  of 
promoting  the  welfare  of  the  laboring 
cla.sses  as  in  the  United  States,  for  the 
last  thirty  years,  and  no  laboring  pop- 
ulation in  the  world  receives  wages  so 
compensatory  or  are  possessed  of  such 
advantages  and  comfortable  surround- 
ings. 

This  is  a  republic  in  which  all  men 
are  free  and  protected  in  their  rights, 
and  are  rewarded  as  their  efforts 
deserve.  The  principles  under  which 
this  country  has  existed  for  more  than 
a  century  have  .secured  the  general 
prosperity  and  happiness  of  the  peo- 
ple. It  is  but  nece.ssani-  to  look  at 
conditions  as  they  have  been  and  are, 
to  see  that  no  one  is  forlorn  and  desper- 
ate except  through  fault  of  his  own. 
This  free  country  promises  commensu- 
rate rewards  to  natural  endowments 
when  properly  exercised  and  when  re- 
sults are  providently  husbanded.  It  is 
a  prevalent  principle  that  merit  is  just- 
1}'  recognized,  and  though  a  republic, 
the  people  are  not  ungrateful  except 
in  the  opinion  of  the  demagogue  and 
worthless.  Organizations  and  a.sso- 
ciations  are  u.seful  when  the)-  operate 
upon  just  and  common-sense  princi- 
ples. It  behooves  the  wage  workers 
to  take  care  not  to  establish  an  abso- 
lution over  them.selves,  for  "it  maj' 
become  a  contagion  and  end  in  found- 
ing a  despotic  government. ' '  Free 
institutions  can  only  be  maintained 
by  preserving  individual  independ- 
ence. It  nuist  not  be  forgotten  that 
the  first  and  highest  duty  of  go\erii- 
ment  is  to  preserve  the  public  peace 
and  protect  life  and  property.  And 
because  this  is  done  it  should  not  be 
assumed  that  government  is  inimical 
to  the  working  people. 


CHAPTER    III. 
REGULATION    OF   RAILWAY   CHARGES. 


THli  claiiiDr  for  lower  charges  tor 
transportations  Ijy  rail  is  quite 
universal  west  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  and  in  fact  they  are  demanded 
in  the  south  and  east,  only  with  less 
vehemence  and  jiL-rsiskiicw  It  is  not 
a  question  of  i)olitii^,  Imi  <if  business  ; 
and  the  charges  shcmlil  lie  regulated 
on  business  iirinciples,  and  not  l)y 
political  demagogisni.  The  Demo- 
crats of  this  vState,  at  their  convention 
in  Fresno  last  May,  sought  to  coddle 
the  anti-railroad  sentiment  and  gain 
support  through  a  proposition  wliicli 
they  thought  would  catch  the  clamor- 
ous for  a  change.  The  whole  people 
want  lower  rates  and  expect  to  secure 
them,  but  all  reasonable  men  desire 
to  accomplish  the  end  by  the  adoption 
of  common  sense  and  just  methods. 
That  convention  adopted  the  following 
resolution  as  one  of  the  planks  of  its 
platform  : 

"Resolved,  that  it  is  the  sense  of 
this  convention  that  the  next  Legis- 
lature of  this  State  submit  to  the 
people  for  adoption,  a  constitutional 
amendment  providing  for  a  maxinuim 
tariff  and  classification,  and  abolish- 
ing the  board  of  railroad  connnissiim- 
ers,  and  the  Democratic  party  demands 


that  all  candidates  f<ir  the  assembly 
and  vSenate  at  the  coming  election  be 
pledged  to  such  action." 

As  the  Democratic  party  is  the 
strenuous  advocate  of  strict  adherence 
to  platform,  which,  to  its  members,  is 
as  sacred  as  the  edict  of  an  CECumeni- 
cal  council  or  an  encyclical  letter,  it  is 
to  be  presumed  that  the  Democratic 
members  of  the  Legislature  will  do 
what  they  can  to  carr>'  out  the  views 
expressed  in  that  resolution.  The 
proposition,  if  carried  into  effect,  will 
have  an  important  bearing  upon  the 
interests  of  every  class  of  our  people. 
The  question  of  freights  and  fares,  as 
has  been  said,  is  exciting  public  atten- 
tion, and  the  best  thought  of  the 
country  is  being  given  to  its  solution. 
A  change  toiiching  so  grave  a  matter 
should  not  be  made  without  the  most 
careful  and  the  fullest  consideration. 
The  proposition  that  the  Government 
in  .some  way  should  regulate  transpor- 
tation rates  is  not  combatted  in  any 
quarter.  The  question  is,  what  is  the 
best  way  ?  California  has  a  mode  pro- 
vided and  defined  in  the  Constitution, 
and  that  it  may  clearly  appear  what 
the  Dt'inocralic  resolution  cunteni- 
]>lates    supplanting,  it    is    necessar>   to 


REGULATION    OH    RAIl.VVAV    CHARGES. 


quote  the  provisions  <if  the  Constitu- 
tion bearing  on  the  subject.  They 
are  as  follows  : 

"Sec.  2  1.  No  discrimination  in 
charges  for  transportation  shall  be 
made  b}'  any  railroad  or  other  trans- 
portation company  between  places  or 
persons  or  in  the  facilities  for  the 
transportation  of  the  same  classes  of 
freight  or  pa.ssengers  within  this 
State,  or  coming  from  or  going  to  any 
other  State.  Persons  and  property- 
transported  over  any  railroad  or  by 
any  other  transportation  company  or 
individual,  shall  be  delivered  at  any 
station,  landing  or  jwrt,  at  charges 
not  exceeding  the  charges  for  the 
transportation  of  per.sons  and  propert}- 
of  the  same  class,  in  the  same  direc- 
tion, to  au}'  more  distant  station,  port 
or  landing.  Excursion  and  commu- 
tation tickets  may  be  issued  at  reduced 
i-ates. 

"  Sec.  22.  The  State  shall  be  divided 
into  three  districts  as  nearly  equal  in 
population  as  practicable,  in  each  of 
which  one  railroad  commissioner  shall 
be  elected  by  the  qualified  electors 
thereof  at  the  regular  gubernatorial 
elections,  whose  salary  shall  be  fixed 
by  law,  and  who.se  term  of  office  shall 
be  four  years,  commencing  on  the  first 
Monday  after  the  first  day  of  January 
next  succeeding  their  election.  Said 
commissioners  shall  be  qualified  elect- 
ors of  this  State  and  of  the  district 
from  which  they  are  elected,  and  .shall 
not  be  interested  in  any  railroad  cor- 
poration, or  other  transportation  com- 
pany, as  .stockholder,  creditor,  agent, 
attorney,  or  employee,  and  the  act  of  a 
majority  of  said  commi.ssioners  shall  be 
deemed  the  act  of  said  commission. 
Said  commissioners  .shall  have  the 
power,  and  it  shall  be  their  duty  to 
establish  rates  of  charges  for  the 
transportation  of  pa.ssengers  and 
freight  by  railroad  or  other  transpor- 
tation companies,  and  publish  the 
.same  from  time  to  time  with  such 
changes  as  they  may  make,  to  examine 
the  books,  records  and  papers  of  all 
•  railroad  and  other  transportation  com- 
panies, and  for  this  purpose  they  shall 


have  power  to  i.ssue  .subpoenas  and  all 
otlier  necessary  process  ;  to  hear  and 
determine  complaints  against  railroad 
and  other  tran.sportation  companies, 
to  .send  for  per.sons  and  to  admini.ster 
oaths,  take  testimony,  and  punish  for 
contempt  of  their  orders  and  processes, 
in  the  .same  manner  and  to  the  same 
extent  as  courts  of  record,  and  enforce 
their  decisions  and  correct  abu.ses 
through  the  medium  of  the  courts.  .Said 
commi.ssioners  shall  presenile  a  uni- 
form .system  of  accounts  to  be  kept  by 
all  such  corporations  and  companies. 
Any  railroad  corporation  or  transpor- 
tation company  which  shall  fail  or 
refuse  to  conform  to  such  rates  as 
shall  be  established  Ijy  said  com- 
missioners, or  shall  charge  rates  in 
excess  thereof,  or  shall  fail  to  keep 
their  accounts  in  accordance  with  the 
system  prescribed  bj'  the  commission, 
shall  be  fined  not  exceeding  twenty 
thousand  dollars  for  each  offense,  and 
ever}'  officer,  agent  or  emplo\-eeof  any 
such  corporation  or  company  who 
shall  demand  or  receive  rates  in  excess 
thereof,  or  who  shall  in  any  manner 
violate  the  provisions  of  this  .section, 
shall  be  fined  not  exceeding  five  thou- 
sand dollars,  or  be  imprisoned  in  the 
county  jail  not  exceeding  one  year. 
In  all  controversies,  civil  or  criminal, 
the  rates  of  fares  and  freights  estab- 
lished by  said  commissioners  shall  be 
deemed  conclusivelj^  ju.st  and  reason- 
able, and  in  any  action  again.st  such 
corporation  or  company  for  damages 
sustained  by  charging  excessive  rates, 
the  plaintiff,  in  addition  to  the  actual 
damage,  may,  in  the  discretion  of  the 
judge  or  jury,  recover  exemplary  dam- 
ages. Said  commissioners  shall  report 
to  the  Governor  annually  their  pro- 
ceedings and  such  other  facts  as  may 
be  deemed  important.  Nothing  in 
this  section  shall  prevent  individuals 
from  maintaining  actions  again.st  any 
of  such  companies.  The  Legislature 
may,  in  addition  to  any  penalties 
herein  prescribed,  enforce  this  article 
by  forfeiture  of  charter  or  otherwise, 
and  may  confer  such  further  powers 
on  the  commissioners  as  shall  be  nee- 


REGULATION    OF    RAILWAY    CHARGES. 


essary  to  enable  them  to  perform  tlie 
duties  enjoined  on  them  in  this  and 
the  foregoing  sections.  The  I^egisla- 
ture  shall  have  power  by  a  two-thirds 
\'ote  of  all  the  members  elected  to 
each  house  to  remove  an}-  one  or  more 
of  said  commissioners  from  office  for 
dereliction  of  duty,  or  corruption  or 
incompetency,  and  whenever,  from  any 
cause,  a  vacancy  in  office  sliall  occur 
in  such  commission  the  Cinvernor 
shall  fill  the  vacancy  by  appointment 
of  a  competent  person  theietn.  who 
shall  hold  office  for  the  ri-^iiha-  of  Hie 
unexpired  term,  and  until  lii>  MULX--s()r 
-shall  have  been  elected  ami  (iualified." 

It  is  the  theorj-  in  all  civilized 
countries  that  the  common  carrier,  to 
a  certain  extent,  is  a  servant  of  the 
public,  and  that  the  manner  of  con- 
ducting his  business  and  the  compen- 
sation he  shall  receive  shall  be 
regulated  by  law.  The  common  law 
declares  that  the  compensation  shall 
be  reasonable  and  just,  and  that  a 
controversy  over  the  amount  shall  be 
decided  by  the  court  and  jury.  Rail- 
ways are  constructed  as  a  rule  1)\- 
corporations,  in  whose  behalf  gov- 
ernments exercise  the  right  of  emi- 
nent domain.  These  corporations  are 
granted  exclusive  franchise  to  control 
and  run  over  their  own  tracks.  It  is 
necessary  that  it  .should  be  so,  for  reg- 
ularity and  exactness  aie  essential 
to  the  safety  of  life  and  ])rnpei-t\-,  and 
to  dispatch  and  econom.\-  in  condueliiig 
the  business.  In  .some  ways  the  Go\- 
eruraent  assumes  larger  control  over 
corporative  transportation  than  over 
those  of  i^rivate  parties.  The  right, 
if  not  expressed,  is  iiiil)liedly  reserved 
to  chan-e  and  modilv  charters,  and  to 
forfeit  li-aiieliise-.,  aii<l  esjieciallv  to 
re-nlate  frei:_;lits  and  laves.  At  the 
beginning  it  was  supposed  that  tlie 
compensation  for  tran.sportation  by 
rail,  could  be  regulated  by  the  couits 
the  same  as  if  it  were  performed  by 
wagon,  boat,  or  other  simple  modes 
in  vogue  before  railway's  were  in- 
vented. 

Experience,  however,  .soon  deinon- 
.strated  the  impracticability  of  attempt- 


ing to  settle  the  question  by  suits  in 
the  courts.  The  reasonableness  of  the 
compensation  to  the  railway  carrier 
should  be  determined  upon  three  con- 
siderations— the  necessary  cost  of  con- 
structiug  and  equipping  the  roads, 
the  necessar}'  expense  of  operating, 
and  the  volume  and  character  of  the 
traffic.  From  the  latter  its  earnings 
are  derived.  It  should  not  be  over- 
looked that  suits  of  this  character 
would  be  with  reference  to  the  com- 
pen.sation  for  a  single  .shipment,  be  it  a 
large  or  a  small  one.  To  do  exact 
justice,  the  jur}'  should  inquire  into 
the  cost  of  right  of  way,  grading, 
bridging,  traek  la\ing,  station  houses, 
offices,  shop--,  seetioii  hou.ses, telegraph 
lines  and  ajipaiatu^  of  cars,  engines, 
and  .1  tliou>aiid  and  one  implements. 
The  items  to  be  considered  in  deter- 
mining the  necessary  operating  ex- 
p(,-iisi  s,  are  siill  more  voluminous,  and 
inrhide  sal.iiies  of  officers,  princi- 
pal and  suliordinate,  attornej-s,  con- 
ductors, engineers,  station  agents, 
telegraph  operators,  brakemen,  fire- 
men, switchmen,  trackmen  and  many 
others.  Also,  the  damages,  through 
inevitable  wear  and  tear,  and  by 
accident,  and  the  cost  of  material  and 
labor  in  repairing.  And  further  the 
freight  and  pa.s.sengers  carried,  and 
the  revenue  received  from  all  sources. 
All  tliese  matters  must  be  gone  into 
lor  the  purpo.se  of  seeing  whether  the 
business  is  honestly  and  economically 
conducted,  and  whether  the  net  earn- 
ings under  existing  rates  afford  more 
than  a  reasonable  remuneration  to  the 
capital  necessarily  invested.  If  a  jury 
were  thoroughly  competent  to  inquire 
into  and  properly  adjudge  all  the.se 
facts,  the  investigation  would  be  pro- 
longed beyond  the  ordinary  terms  of 
courts.  These  suits,  as  has  been  .said, 
neeessarih-  involve  the  share  that  a 
particular  .shipment  .should  contribute 
towards  operating  expenses  and  fair 
reward  to  capital.  The  ablest  and 
most  experienced  traffic  officer  never 
attempts  to  determine  that  question  ; 
it  is  impossible  to  determine  the 
ainonnl   even    approximately.      Rates 


REGULATION    Ol-    RAILWAY    CHARCiKS.  ^ T., 


are  based  upon  the  general  results  of 
the  business,  and  are  designed  to  be 
made  so,  that  after  deducting  operat- 
ing expenses  from  earnings,  there  will 
be  a  balance  sufficient  to  properly 
remunerate  capital.  The  net  balances 
(luctuate  because  business  is  not 
always  the  same,  and  the  losses  from 
accidents  and  providential  causes  vary 
from  year  to  year.  Efforts  to  settle 
the  question  of  compensation  by  suit 
have  wholly  cea.sed,  at  least,  such 
cases  are  among  the  rarest  in  the  cal- 
endars of  courts. 

The  proposition  in  the  resolution 
which  has  been  quoted,  is  for  the  Leg- 
islature  to  pass  upon  this  complicated 
question,  and  to  enact  a  general  law 
prescribing  a  rate  which  the  railways 
in  no  case  shall  exceed.  It  goes  fui'- 
tlier  and  proposes  that  the  Legislature 
shall  classify  freights  by  statute.  Our 
legislators  are  not  all  men  who  are 
well  informed  upon  the.se  subjects  : 
many  of  them  are  no  more  competent 
to  pass  upon  them  than  the  ordinary 
juror.  The  session  lasts  but  sixty 
days  and  is  crowded  with  a  vast 
amount  of  other  business,  and  then 
one  branch  and  one-half  of  the  other 
become  practically  defunct  unless  the 
Governor  should  call  an  extraordinary 
session.  The  Legislature  would  not 
have  time  to  properh-  consider  the 
grave  question  of  rates.  Classification 
is  ba.sed  upon  bulk  weight,  \-alue  and 
quantity  carried  of  each  cla.ss.  There 
would  be  a  field  for  extended  investi- 
gation which  would  exhaust  no  small 
part  of  the  .ses.sion.  If  the  Legisla- 
ture should  do  a  wrong,  it  would  be 
grievous,  for  it  would  continue  for  two 
years,  or  until  the  Governor  should 
convene  it  in  extra  se.s.sion.  If  the  ma- 
jority were  controlled  by  an  unjust 
public  sentiment,  the  rates  would  be 
fixed  .so  low  as  to  destroy  capital,  and 
if  under  railroad  influence,  they  would 
be  made  so  high  as  to  be  oppressive  to 
the  people.  A  general  law  cannot  be 
made  so  as  to  do  justice  to  all  roads  or 
communities.  California  is  a  State  of 
various  physical  characteristics;  there 
are  mountains  and  plains,  ugly  canons 


to  cross,  or  to  follow,  in  construct- 
ing and  operating  railroads.  No  two 
roads  cost  the  same  to  build  or  oper- 
ate. In  some  localities,  population  is 
den.se,  in  others,  sparse,  and  all  are 
interested  in  having  the  means  of 
transportation.  Some  .sections  are 
highly  productive  and  supply  a  large 
volume  of  traffic,  and  others  le.ss 
productive  furnish  but  little  busi- 
ness, while  it  costs  as  much  or  more 
to  build  and  operate  roads  through 
them  as  in  the  best  sections.  It 
is  important  to  the  whole  common- 
wealth that  all  parts  of  the  State 
should  be  accommodated. 

The  plan  of  enacting  maxinnun 
rates  was  among  the  fir.st,  if  not  the 
ver)'  first,  adopted  after  the  impracti- 
cability of  determining  the  reason- 
ableness of  railwaj-  compensation  bj' 
the  court  and  jury,  became  apparent. 
In  many  of  the  vStates  it  has  fallen 
into  disu.se  becau.se  its  universality 
renders  it  inelastic,  and  its  operation 
in  many  cases  results  in  injustice. 
If  it  is  right  that  capital  invested  in 
such  i.ntcri irises  is  entitled  to  the  same 
reward  in  all  eases,  some  roads  in  the 
same  State  should  be  permitted  to 
charge  higher  rates  than  others,  from 
the  fact  that  they  cost  more  to  construct 
and  are  more  expensive  to  operate. 
The  larger  number  of  the  vStates 
have  created  commissions  to  deal 
with  the  question  of  railroad  tran,s- 
portation  with  different  powers.  In 
some  States  they  are  advisory  and 
in  others  regulative.  The  powers  of 
the  commi.ssion  in  California  are  more 
extensive  than  in  anj'  of  the  States 
except  Texas.  The  efforts  of  our 
commission  need  not  be  inadequate  to 
guard  the  interests  of  the  people  for 
want  of  authority-  The  theory  of  a 
commi.ssion  is  that  there  may  be  offi- 
cials whose  term  of  office  is  sufficiently 
long  to  enable  them  to  make  a  study 
and  come  to  a  complete  understanding 
of  the  railroad  question.  They  have 
time  to  investigate  all  the  facts  and 
features  to  the  fullest  extent,  that 
they  may  regulate  the  business  in 
such  manner  and   prescribe   rates  as 


REGULATION    OF    RAILWAY    CHARGES. 


will  do  substantial  justice  to  all  con- 
cerned. They  act  in  the  capacitj-  of 
traffic  officers  for  the  public,  and  from 
their  position  should  be  governed  by 
a  purpose  to  protect  the  people  with- 
out doing  injustice  to  the  railroads. 
Having  plenary  power  and  consider- 
able official  permanenc}',  they  can 
make  changes,  from  time  to  time, 
intelligently  and  as  exigencies  de- 
mand. In  theory,  at  least,  a  commis- 
sion is  the  best  agency  of  government 
thus  far  devised  for  managing  railwaj- 
tran.sportation.  It  has  not  been  abol- 
ished in  aiiy  State  where  it  has  been 
adopted,  except  in  Massachu-setts, 
where  the  powers  were  merely  advis- 
ory. Reports  of  the  executives  of  all 
the  States  show  'that  it  has  worked 
well  everywhere,  causin;^  ^rcat  sav- 
ings to  the  people  withuut  eniljairass- 
ing  the  legitimate  operation  of  the 
railroads.  The  tendency  is  to  enlarge 
rather  than  to  further  restrict  the 
powers  of  commissions.  Congress  has 
adopted  the  idea  as  to  inter-state 
traffic.  It  may  be  apprehended  that 
the  time  will  come  when  there  will  be 
unifonnity  among  the  States  as  to  the 
powers  conferred  upon  railway  com- 
missinns.  Tn  change  the  cnnunission 
for  a  geiR-ral  sUiUUl-  i)r(_-srriliin.i;- rates 
and  cla-.--irRatiiiii  WMiilil  Ik-  damaging 
if  not  calaniilnns  I.)  IIk-  imprests  of 
California,  It  is  n.a  and  >li:  .itl.l  not 
be  made  a  party  (iiiL>li(in.  To  inter- 
fere with  Inisiness  for  party  purposes 
is  ahva\  s  hurtful. 

So  far  as  philosophy  and  experience 
show,  there  can  be  no  objection  to 
the  plan  of  a  coraniis.sion.  It  is  urged 
that  it  may  be  corrupted,  and  is, 
therefore,  objectionable.  It  has  been 
alleged  that  the  California  ComniLs- 
.sion,  since  its  creation,  has  been  under 
the  influence  and  control  of  the  rail- 
roads. Such  charges  are  easily  made, 
and  will  be  made  whenever  the  com- 
plaint of  any  one  is  not  granted.  It 
has  got  to  be  a  habit  of  mind  of  some 
people  to  think  they  .see  corruption 
wlienever  a  ruling  is  in  favor  of  a 
railroad.  It  requires  more  courage  to 
decide  for  a  railroad  in  a  case  where  it 


is  plainly  right,  than  adversely. 
There  is  official  corruption,  but  not  to 
the  extent  as  seen  by  the  pessimist. 
If  a  commis.sioner  is  incompetent, 
derelict  or  dishonest,  he  can  be  re- 
moved by  a  two-third  vote  of  the 
nKinl>ers  elected  to  each  branch  of 
the  lA-.^islature.  If  one  ischo.sen  who 
is  inc()ni]>etent  or  corrupt,  it  is  the 
fault  of  tiie  people. 

If  a  commission  cannot  be  trusted, 
how  can  a  L,egislature  ?  The  Cali- 
fornia commission  is  no  worse  in  rep- 
utation than  the  ordinary  run  of 
California  Legislatures.  Nor  are  the 
people  able  to  .select  better  men  for 
the  one  position  than  for  the  other.  It 
may  cost  more  to  bribe  a  Legislature 
than  a  commission,  because  member- 
ship is  more  numerous,  but  the  work 
of  llie  Legislature  is  more  valuable  for 
it  will  endure  longer.  The  greatest 
woes  of  this  country  do  not  proceed 
from  the  doings  of  courts,  commissions, 
and  executives,  but  from  legislation. 
If  the  people  cannot  correct  abu.ses 
in  one  case  they  cannot  in  the  other. 
Though  courts  are  .sometimes  incom- 
petent and  dishonest,  their  abolition  is 
not  ad\ocated  by  anybodj'.  The  wis- 
dom of  the  plans  proposed  are  to  be 
passed  upon  as  the  main  issue,  and 
defects  in  their  execution  must  be 
corrected  by  the  people  as  experience 
discloses  the  necessity.  All  are  inter- 
ested in  reducing  the  cost  of  transpor- 
tation to  the  lowest  x'ossible  figure, 
consistent  with  efficient  service  and 
the  just  rights  of  capital.  To  render 
it  unreniunerative  is  to  destroy 
capital,  and  its  destruction  brings 
calamity  to  all.  A  better  way 
to  regulate  rates  maj'  be  discovered 
than  by  a  commission,  but  it  is  the 
best  that  has  yet  been  devi.sed.  If 
new  commissioners  from  any  cause 
fail  in  the  di.scharge  of  their  duties, 
the  time  is  not  distant  when  those  can 
be  chosen  who  will  not  fail.  The 
railroad  problem  is  difficult  to  .solve, 
but  evolution  is  taking  place,  and  the 
wisest  plan  will,  ere  long,  be  discov 
ered  if  that  now  in  force  in  California 
is  not  that  plan. 


CIIAl'TI'.R    I\'. 

HOW   TO   SECURE   GOOD   MUNICIPAL  GOVERNMENT. 


THE  country  during  the  past  few 
3'ears  has  been  aroused  to  the 
importance  of  honest  elections, 
and  of  securing  honest,  efficient  and 
economical  government.  The  agita- 
tion embraces  all  elections  and  gov- 
ernments, but  more  especially  those 
which  are  local  and  municipal. 
Cities  have  been  denominated 
' '  blotches  upon  the  body  politic. ' ' 
It  is  more  difficult  to  govern  cities 
than  the  country.  The  bucolic  popu- 
lation are  generally  peaceable,  orderly 
and  law-abiding,  while  in  cities  there 
are  frequent  disorders,  and  crimes  are 
daily  committed.  In  the  country  the 
people  are  more  inclined  to  give 
attention  to  public  questions,  as  those 
who  resort  to  urban  life  for  business 
or  pleasure  are  more  intent  on  their 
own  affairs  or  are  indisposed  to  give 
thought  and  work  to  matters  of  gen- 
eral concern.  There  is  a  larger 
percentage  of  idle  and  vicious  men  in 
cities,  and  they  resort  thither  because 
there  is  greater  seclusion  and  less 
danger  of  detection.  Such  are  also 
active  in  politics  for  the  reason  that 
there  is  greater  scope  for  action  and 
less  resistance  from  the  responsible 
classes. 

Municipal  government  is  closer  to 
the  people  than  any  other  ;  it  inter- 
feres more  in  the  business  and  social 
relations,  and  for  the  reason  that 
it  has  more  to  do,  it  is  more  ex- 
pensive. Wealth  is  greater  in  cities, 
and  the  vicious  find  more  ways  to  get 
money  than  in  the  countr>',  and  espe- 
cially through  the  expenditures  of 
government.  Municipal  government 
is  the  most  extravagant  and  corrupt 
in  the  world,  and  experience  in  this 
countrj',  where  the  tax-payers  can 
control  it  if  they  will,  shows  that 
there  are  few  exceptions  to  the  general 
rule.     This  is  well  understood,  and  it 


is  a  curious  fact  that  a  large  class  of 
the  people  are  guilty  of  the  grossest 
neglect  of  duty  in  regard  to  gov^ern- 
ment  so  close  to  them,  while  the}-  are 
more  alert  as  to  those  more  remote, 
and  whose  influence  they  scarcely  feel. 
The  business  men  groan  under  the 
burden  of  taxation,  and  suffer  from 
abuses  j-ear  after  year,  and  beyond 
complaining,  do  little  or  nothing  to 
obtain  relief.  In  all  countries  munici- 
pal government  is  worse  than  any 
other,  because  through  indifference 
and  inaction  the  responsible  classes 
have  little  or  no  control  or  influence. 
The  city  is  the  home  of  the  boss, 
because  he  finds  there  in  greatest 
strength  the  very  element  which  best 
subserves  his  purposes,  and  through 
it  he  easilj'  achieves  power.  The 
boss  is  a  boodler,  and  through  the 
dispensation  of  boodle,  he  gains 
ascendancy  over  and  controls  the  class, 
which  has  no  conception  or  regard  for 
good  government.  He  is  also  a 
patronage  broker,  a  cincher,  and  con- 
trols his  minions  by  getting  them 
offices,  or  by  the  direct  payment  of 
monej',  which  he  wrings  from  those 
whose  interests  he  can  promote  or  im- 
pair. The  boss  is  a  thrifty  individual, 
for  his  own  account,  and  as  he  must 
have  monej'  and  it  seems  less  heinous 
and  more  practicable  than  stealing,  he 
imposes  upon  the  public  an  extrava- 
gant if  not  a  corrupt  government.  He 
easily  succeeds,  because  tlio.se  who 
pay  taxes  and  suffer  from  other  abuses 
place  no  formidable  obstacle  in  his 
wa}-.  He  cares  nothing  for  clamor 
and  curses,  so  long  as  the  responsible 
citizens  abstain  from  politics  and 
absent  themselves  from  the  polls  on 
election  day.  People  who  manifest 
no  interest  in  governing  themselves 
ought  to  have  learned  long  ago  that 
there    are    plenty    of    men    standing 


22 


HOW    TO    SECURE    GOOD    MUNICIPAL    GOVERNMENT. 


around,  who  like  the  business  of 
governing,  and  that  they  will  do  for 
others  what  others  should  do  for 
themselves.  There  would  be  no  bad 
government  in  this  country  if,  through 
inattention  to  public  dut}r,  it  were  not 
impliedlj'  assented  to  by  those  who 
could  make  it  good  if  they  would. 
The  demagogue  and  rascal  have  dis- 
covered that  in  cities  at  least  they  can 
impose  bad  laws  and  do  wicked  acts 
without  much  danger  of  receiving 
retribution  at  the  hands  of  the  people, 
yet  in  every  city  the  responsible  class 
largely  outnumbers  the  irresponsible. 
And  why  is  this  indifference  ?  Too 
much  business  or  pleasure  is  oue 
excuse.  Another  is  the  disagreeable 
associations  that  must  be  encountered 
in  combating  those  who  make  politics 
a  profession.  It  is  a  mistake  to  think 
that  in  politics  good  men  must  "fight 
the  devil  with  fire."  The  work  to  be 
done  is  to  put  out  the  fire  which  the 
devil  lias  lighted  ;  to  substitute  just 
and  defensible  practices  for  those 
which  are  evil.  It  is  to  do  good 
instead  of  bad  work.  No  man  is 
required  to  lower  his  standard  of 
morality  in  doing  his  political  duty. 
Henry  Ward  Beecher  said  :  ' '  While 
we  are  on  the  ground,  we  must  do 
ground  woi'k."  The  squeamish  man 
is  uot  the  very  best  citizen.  It  is  not 
enough  that  his  personal  conduct  is 
unexceptionable  ;  he  must  do  some- 
thing worth}^  of  a  man  in  promoting 
the  public  welfare.  The  business 
man  will  apply  himself  to  his  private 
pursuit,  year  in  and  3'ear  out,  with 
unflagging  industry,  courageously  en- 
countering the  disagreeable  ;  but  when 
he  is  called  upon  to  give  a  day  to  the 
public,  he  will  fallcr  and  retire  at  the 
mere  shadow  of  what  is  not  quite  in 
accord  with  his  taste.  The  highest 
aim  of  a  free  American  citizen  should 
be  to  secure  the  greatest  possible 
excellence  of  government  for  the 
public  good,  and  because  in  it  his 
pecuniary  interests  are  involved.  It 
is  a  lamentable  fact,  so  well  stated 
by  Macaulaj',  "that  bad  men  will 
assail,  with  far  more  vigor  and  per- 


sistency than  good  men  will  defend, 
good  principles."  The  eflforts  of 
good  men  have  sometimes  been  ren- 
dered unavailing  through  fraudu- 
lent voting  and  ballot-box  stuffing, 
and  because  this  has  been  done,  those 
who  have  been  thus  robbed  of  their 
suffrages  abandon  the  contest  and 
surrender.  If  respon.sible  citizens  had 
always  been  as  faithful  and  persistent 
in  performing  political  duties  as  the 
irresponsible,  there  would  have  been 
no  such  outrages  perpetrated.  There 
is  not  a  political  crime  that  cannot  be 
justly  charged  to  the  indifference  and 
neglect  of  those  who  have  most  at 
stake,  and  who  suffer  most  from  bad 
government. 

What  class  furnishes  the  greater 
number  of  office  seekers  ?  Not  the 
business,  patriotic,  nor  the  mo.st  in- 
telligent class.  These  having  given  up 
politics  to  the  professionals,  the  lat- 
ter naturally  suj^ply  the  officials.  It  is 
rare  that  the  business  man  can  be 
induced  to  accept  an  office,  and  still 
rarer  that  he  will  stand  for  reuomina- 
tion,  and  for  the  very  good  reason 
that  his  class  will  uot  take  the  trouble 
to  sustain  him,  and  he  must  run  the 
gauntlet  of  being  bled  by  those  who 
follow  politics  for  a  livelihood.  The 
time  was  when  the  office  sought  the 
man,  and  when  defeat  was  almost 
certain,  if  a  candidate  solicited  votes 
for  himself.  It  was  when  the  better 
element  gave  thought  and  work  to 
public  affairs  and  political  manage- 
ment. There  has  been  a  change,  and 
candidates  are  expected  to  exert  them- 
selves for  their  own  election.  It  may 
be  as  well  so,  as  it  affords  a  better  op- 
portunity for  the  people  to  judge  of  the 
men  they  are  called  upon  to  support. 
That  a  man  must  exert  himself  in  his 
own  behalf  constitutes  no  good  reason 
why  he  should  not  accept  or  seek  an 
office  of  which  he  is  worthy.  The 
present  method  simply  involves  a 
question  of  modesty,  and  the  good  and 
capable  citizen  will  waive  that  for  the 
public  interest.  The  fact  is,  an  office 
should  be  sought  for  the  honor  it 
confers,  and  not  for  the  pay  attached 


HOW    TO    SECURE    GOOD    MUNICIPAL    GOVERNMENT. 


to  it.  The  emoluments  are  the  same 
in  all  cases,  but  honor  can  only  be 
derived  through  the  excellence  of  the 
service  rendered. 

The  country  has  been  disgraced  in 
many  localities  by  a  variety  of  election 
crimes,  and  the  genius  of  legislators 
has  been  heavily  drawn  upon  to 
provide  means  for  their  prevention. 
Penalties  have  been  imposed  b)-  law 
for  every  act  that  tends  to  prevent 
honest  political  methods  and  honest 
elections,  yet  the  evils  have  not  been 
removed.  We  have  the  Australian 
law  for  conducting  elections  in  many 
of  the  states.  Our  experience  has  not 
been  sufficient  to  determine  whether 
or  not  it  is  a  universal  panacea  for 
election  frauds  and  crimes.  Other 
laws  have  been  disregarded  and 
offenses  have  continued.  Ways  may 
yet  be  devised  to  thwart  the  effect  of 
that  law.  Legislators  may  deter  the 
bad  from  committing  crimes,  but  it 
will  not  make  men  honest.  There  is 
one  infallible  remedy,  one  assurance 
of  honest  elections  and  good  govern- 
ment, and  it  is,  that  every  man  who 
has  the  best  interests  of  the  public  at 
heart  shall  faithfully  and  determinedly 
perform  his  political  duties  at  all  times 
and  under  all  circumstances.  The 
law  can  aid  by  prescribing  honest 
methods,  but  it  should  not  be  solely 
relied  on.  The  good  people  must  see 
that  it  is  observed,  and  when  violated, 
that  its  penalties  are  inflicted.  It  is 
not  enough  that  an  honest  citizen 
shall  cast  his  vote  on  election  day  ;  he 
should  begin  further  back,  and  see  to 
it  that  the  proper  men  are  put  forward 
as  candidates.  To  scratch  the  names 
of  improper  men  may  have  some  effect 
in  the  direction  of  reform,  but  only  in 
case  there  are  better  men  on  the  ticket 
of  the  other  party.  The  ax  must  be 
laid  at  the  root  of  the  tree  by  begin- 
ning work  at  the  primaries.  Party  or- 
ganization is  useful  and  necessary,  and 
hence  as  a  rule  should  be  .sustained. 

Bad  nominations  often  weaken  but 
never  destroy  political  parties.  Men 
will  not,  and  ought  not  to  abandon  a 
great  principle  because  the  best  names 


are  not  on  the  ticket  of  their  party. 
It  is  here  that  in  municipal  and  local 
elections,  great  national  or  .state  issues 
are  not  involved,  but  men  are  loath  to 
vote  the  opposition  ticket.  Scratching 
has  not  produced  such  reformatory 
results  as  are  desirable.  It  is  not  rad- 
ical enough  and  has  a  beneficial  effect 
but  for  a  day.  It  is  often  the  case 
that  candidates  on  one  ticket  are  no 
better  than  IhtiMuii  Uic  other.  Bosses 
on  both  si<ks  arc  amiable  toward  each 
other,  and  as  they  rule  through  in- 
different elements,  it  is  easy  for  them 
to  establish  reciprocal  relations.  Well 
regulated  primaries,  if  participated  in 
by  all  the  members  of  a  party,  and 
especially  by  the  better  element,  are 
quite  sure  to  result  in  the  selection  of 
a  better  class  of  candidates,  otherwise 
the  vicious  will  continue  to  control. 
The  primaries  should  be  so  regulated 
that  each  citizen  may  vote  directly  for 
candidates  for  nomination.  They  are 
practicable  and  especially  essential  in 
making  municipal  and  county  tickets. 
There  are  localities  where  this  plan 
prevails  and  results  are  excellent 
Under  this  system,  the  duties  of  dele- 
gates to  conventions  are  merely  pe:- 
functory.  They  simply  register  the 
will  of  the  people,  and  trading  and 
combination  are  avoided.  The  merits 
of  candidates  have  been  discus.sed  in 
the  incipient  stage,  misapprehension 
and  mistake  will  seldom  occur,  and  a 
good  ticket  is  almost  an  inevitable 
result.  It  is  not  only  the  duty  of 
good  citizens  to  take  part  in  politics 
at  every  stage,  but  to  accept  office 
when  their  fellow-citizens  ask  it. 
Every  man  owes  that  to  the  public, 
which  he  .should  not  repudiate,  even 
if  he  has  to  sacrifice  personal  feeling 
and  interest. 

In  speaking  of  bosses,  it  is  not 
intended  to  confound  them  with 
leaders.  There  is  a  broad  distinction 
between  them.  The  leader  becomes 
such  through  his  knowledge  and  high 
motive.  He  controls  for  the  general 
welfare.  The  world  has  had  leaders 
in  all  ages,  and  human  progress  is 
due    to    their    efforts.      The    leader 


HOW    TO    SECURE    GOOD    MUNICIPAL    GOVERNMENT. 


influences,  the  boss  dictates.  The 
leader  is  a  great  character,  the  boss  is 
a  man  with  no  motive  higher  than 
self-aggrandizement.  The  one  is 
strong  with  the  intelligent  and  good, 
and  the  other  is  a  potentate  among 
the  ignorant  and  vicious.  To  be  a 
leader  is  an  honor,  but  to  be  a  boss  is 
a  disgrace  to  the  community  over 
which  he  dominates.  Let  us  dispense 
with  bosses  in  politics  and  adhere  to 
leaders.  The\-  are  to  be  found  not  in 
chronic  office-seekers,  but  in  men  who 
thrive  by  honest  work,  and  who  hold 
the  public  good  higher  than  private 
gain. 

City  governments  in  this  country 
are  not  only  the  most  extravagant 
and  corrupt,  but  they  are  the  cause  of 
criticism  by  people  in  foreign  countries, 
and  they  do  more  than  any  other  cause 
to  bring  our  institutions  and  political 
methods  into  disrepute.  Mr.  James 
Br>-ce,  in  his  "American  Common- 
wealth," states  that  New  Orleans 
in  politics  is  the  worst  place  in  the 
United  States,  and  that  New  York 
and  San  Francisco  are  next  to  it. 
The  two  cities  should  not  be  placed  in 
the  same  class,  for  San  Francisco  has 
not,  on  the  whole,  been  so  badly  gov- 
erned as  New  York.  That  city  has 
for  half  a  century  been  dominated  by 
an  organized  conspiracy  against  good 
government.  It  has  controlled  through 
distribution  of  patronage  and  official 
corruption,  and  is  so  strong  and  dis- 
ciplined that  it  is  next  to  impossible  to 
subvert  its  authority.  In  a  few 
instances  when  its  methods  have  been 
extraordinarily  audacious  and  a  plun- 
dered and  outraged  people  have 
temporarily  deprived  it  of  power,  and 
a  few  times  its  rascals  have  been  visited 
with  condign  punishment,  the  better 
element  has  appeared  to  triumph;  but 
the  people  have  immediately  relapsed 
into  indifference  and  Tammany  has 
returned  to  power  without  resistance. 
No  people  in  America  have  so  long 
been  bound  hand  and  foot  by  a 
machine  and  a  boss,  and  none  have 
been  taxed  so  heavily  and  uniformlj- 
misgoverned  as  those  of  our  greatest 


commercial     metropolis.      There    art 
men   enough  in   that  great  city   who 
desire  good  government  to  control  it, 
but  apathy  on  their  part,  which  is  the 
crj'ing   evil   in  all  our  cities,    is   the 
obstacle  to  reformator}'  action.     San 
Francisco  has  suffered  from  bad  poli- 
tics and   indifferent  government,    but 
this  has  not  been  an  almost  perpetual 
condition.     Probably  no  people  were 
ever  more  enchained    by    crime  and 
criminals  than  those  of  San  Francisco 
years  ago,    but    thej^  were  not    slow 
in    finding    a  means  of   relief.      The 
remedy,   though  radical,   and  nomin- 
ally   revolutionary,     was   heroic    and 
effective.       It   was  charged  that  the 
steps  taken  were  in  defiance  of   law 
and  the  regularly  constituted  author- 
ities, but  in  reality  it  was  the  resump- 
tion of  power  by  a  people  for  their 
own     protection.      The    mettle    dis- 
played by  the   business    men  in  the 
days   of  Vigilantes,     and    their  just 
conception   of    public    duty   made  a 
profound  impression    throughout  the 
civilized  world,   and  the  influence  of 
their  heroic  action  is  felt  in  the  city 
to  this  da)'.     The  machine  and  bosses 
were  dethroned  and  the  government 
restored     to     rightful     hands.      The 
reigns  of  our  bosses  have  since  been 
short,  for  they  have  disappeared  upon 
a  warning  that   the    tax-paying  and 
responsible  classes  are  aroused.     No 
city   in   the  country   has   a   class   of 
business  men  stronger  and  more  de- 
termined than  those  of  San  Francisco. 
Though  they  want  good  government, 
they  are  not  always  sufficiently  atten- 
tive to  their  political  duties,  and  as  a 
consequence  public  offices  fall  to  the 
control  of  a  class  who  have  other  than 
the     public     interests     to     suKserve. 
Unless  the  policy  of  self-disfranchise- 
ment,  by  the  protracted  and  inexcus- 
able  failure   to  perform   duty  to  the 
public,  be  abandoned,  and  that  volun- 
tarily, there  is  no  legal  way  in  which 
reform  can  be  secured.     The  destinies 
of    San    Franci.sco    and    of   all    other 
cities,    and    of  the  whole   country  as 
well,  are  in  the  hands  of  the  intelli- 
gent and  responsible  citizens. 


CHAI'TI'R    \' 


POLITICAL   DUTY   OF   CALIFOHNIANS. 


CALIFORNIA  became  a  state 
forty-two  years  ago.  Her  ad- 
mission was  not  in  conformity  to 
the  usual  methods.  Congress  never 
gave  her  an  organic  Act  and  terri- 
torial government.  Her  tutelage  and 
preparation  were  practically  under 
military  rule,  nor  was  her  admission 
preceded  by  an  ennobling  Act.  The 
people  proceeded  in  their  sovereign 
capacity  to  elect  a  convention,  which 
framed  a  constitution,  and  to  which 
they  gave  their  as.sent.  The  original 
thirteen  states  entered  the  Union  by 
mutual  consent,  Texas  was  admitted 
by  joint  resolution,  Maine  was  de- 
tached from  Massachusetts,  and  West 
Virginia  was  carved  out  of  the  Old 
Dominion  bj'  the  consent  of  Congress. 
In  all  other  cases,  admission  was  pre- 
ceded by  some  preliminar}-  action  of 
Congress. 

The  mannerof  her  admission  was  not 
the  only  exceptional  feature.  Califor- 
nia had  been  acquired  little  more  than 
two  years  before  she  became  a  state. 
The  so-called  native  Californians,  or 
Mexicans  as  they  are  better  known, 
numbered  about  thirteen  thousand, 
and  the  other  clas.ses  of  citizens  in  the 
main  were  new-comers  from  every  part 
of  the  nation.  Thej^  were  brought 
hither  by  the  gold  excitement  and  a 
spirit  of  adventure.  The  area  of  Cali- 
fornia was  large,  climatic  conditions 
were  varied,  resources  were  extraordi- 
nary' as  productions  of  the  soil  were 
abundant  and  rich,  and  covered  a  wide 
range.  It  was  supposed  that  her 
wealth  in  the  precious  metals  rivaled 
that  of  Ormus  and  of  Ind.  Enter- 
prise was  unbounded,  wages  were 
high,  and  the  miner,  banker,  mer- 
chant, laborer  and  professional  classes 
were  generally  prosperous.  It  was  a 
land  of  large  ideas,  and  living  was 
extravagant.     Many    who     aided    in 


framing  the  first  fundamental  law 
expected  to  remain  in  the  country'  only 
long  enough  to  acquire  fortunes,  and 
the  same  was  true  of  a  considerable 
percentage  of  their  constituents.  The 
first  constitution  may  almo.st  be  said 
to  have  been  made  by  non-residents. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  nothing 
is  so  well  done  in  a  new  as  in  an  old 
country.  Pioneers  are  always  too 
busy  with  their  private  affairs,  too 
intent  on  gaining  a  livelihood,  and  in 
preparation  for  comfortable  life,  to 
give  their  best  thought  to  public  ques- 
tions, as  is  more  common  among 
people  who  possess  competency  and 
leisure.  The  first  settlers  are  content 
to  live  in  cabins  for  a  time  and  until 
they  are  able  to  erect  better  residences, 
and  provide  ampler  conveniences  of 
life.  It  is  quite  natural  that  there 
should  be  a  similar  feeling  in  regard 
to  matters  of  government.  Compared 
with  a  majority  of  the  states,  Califor- 
nia is  young,  but  with  a  large 
minority  she  is  old.  Since  her  admis- 
sion there  have  been  many  changes  in 
the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  older 
states.  The  newer  states  in  preparing 
their  constitutions  had  the  benefit  of 
the  experiences  of  others  and  the 
improvements  made  by  them.  Cali- 
fornia came  in  before  there  was  the 
progress  that  has  characterized  the 
last  quarter  of  a  century. 

At  the  time  she  acquired  .statehood, 
there  was  the  mo,st  intense  political 
feeling,  and  more  thought  was  given 
to  the  disturbing  questions  then  in 
issue  than  to  providing  the  best 
machinery  of  government.  The  idea 
also  prevailed  throughout  the  nation 
that  party  success  was  best  assured 
through  the  creation  of  a  multiplicity 
of  offices  to  which  liberal  compensation 
was  attached  that  profitable  employ- 
ment  migrht   be   given  to  those  who 


POLITICAL    DUTY    OF    CALIFORNIANS. 


made  politics  a  profession  and  per- 
formed political  work.  Those  were 
days  when  spoil  was  the  most  power- 
ful incentive  to  political  effort. 

Under  all  these  circumstances  it 
could  hardly  have  been  otherwise  than 
that  a  constitution  should  have  been 
framed  that  did  not  reilect  the  most 
advanced  ideas,  or  recognize  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  most  rigid  economy.  It 
was  natural,  too,  that  laws  early 
enacted  thereunder  should  have  been 
of  the  same  character.  A  superfluity 
of  oiSces  was  created,  and  salaries 
and  fees  were  in  accord  with  the  ex- 
travagant ideas  then  prevalent.  Gov- 
ernments in  California,  state,  county, 
and  municipal,  are  among  the  most 
expensive  in  the  nation.  At  the  out- 
set they  were  more  so  than  at  the 
present  time,  as  to  .some  extent  salaries 
have  been  reduced  and  expenses  other- 
wise curtailed.  There  is  still  ample 
room  for  improvement.  Our  courts 
are  excessively  expensive  from  the 
large  number  of  clerks,  bailiffs  and 
hangers-on  employed,  and  paid  out  of 
the  public  treasury.  The  practice,  as 
administered  is  productive  of  delays 
as  well  as  of  needless  expense.  Our 
County  Boards  of  Supervisors  are 
clothed  with  extraordinary  powers, 
and  they  have  not  been  exercised  as  a 
rule  iu  the  interest  of  the  greatest 
economy.  The  Supreme  Court  has 
recently  made  a  decision  which  cir- 
cumscribes their  power  to  expend 
money.  As  the  courts  do  not  make 
laws,  they  can  only  limit  expenditures 
by  applying  the  rule  of  strict  con- 
struction. The  chief  remedies  must 
be  sought  from  the  law-making  power. 

We  have  county  and  municipal 
assessors,  and  ri>nsL(|iKnlly  duplicate 
assessments,  wlii.  h  iinii.'^c  an  unnec- 
essary and  lar-c  expunge.  In  other 
states,  one  assessment  answers  for  all 
purposes.  It  is  true  that  the  Legisla- 
ture, during  the  last  session  passed  an 
Act  which  permits  City  Councils  to 
adopt  the  county  assessments  as  a 
basis  of  municipal  taxation.  The  law 
is  not  imperative,  as  it  should  be,  for 
wherever  a  ring  is  in  control  or  the 


idea  prevails  that  the  more  officers 
there  are  the  better  it  is  for  party, 
Councils  will  disregard  the  option  and 
retain  the  city  assessors.  We  have 
county  and  city  tax  collectors,  which 
are  unnecessary  officers.  In  many  of 
the  states  county  treasurers  collect 
all  the  taxes,  and  pay  over  to  the  state, 
municipal,  school  and  other  treasurers 
the  sums  belonging  to  them  respec- 
tively. To  abolish  these  oifices  and 
impose  their  duties  upon  the  county 
treasurers  will  s.ave  a  large  expense. 
Beyond  this  it  is  a  great  convenience 
to  the  people  to  have  one  place  where 
all  taxes  are  paid  and  a  clean  receipt 
given.  To  point  out  all  the  cases 
where  the  pruning  knife  should  be 
applied  and  expenses  lopped  off  would 
make  an  article  too  long  to  suit  the 
taste  of  most  magazine  readers. 

The  Constitution  of  1879  was  in- 
tended to  be  an  improvement  on  its 
predecessor,  and  it  undoubtedly  is  in 
some  respects.  In  one  feature,  experi- 
ence has  demonstrated  that  it  works 
an  injury  to  a  class  it  was  intended  to 
benefit,  and  that  is  the  provision  which 
requires  a  lender  of  money  to  pay  the 
tax  upon  land  on  which  he  takes  a 
mortgage.  If  the  conventional  rate  of 
interest  were  sufiicientlj^  limited,  it 
might  be  otherwise.  But  as  it  is  un- 
limited, the  lender  is  sure  to  exact  a 
rate  high  enough  to  cover  the  taxes, 
and  generally  a  little  more.  The  re- 
sult is  the  borrower  pays  more  interest 
than  he  would  in  the  absence  of  any 
.such  con.stitutional  provision.  More- 
over it  complicates  the  assessment  of 
lands  find  the  collection  of  taxes. 
Those  who  fathered  the  provision 
ought  to  be  satisfied  that  it  should 
be  expunged  from  the  Constitution. 
To  reduce  expen.ses  is  not  the  only 
work  to  be  doue.  Simplification  and 
adjustment  of  the  laws  so  as  to  create 
a  harmonious  system  easily  operative 
is  necessary  to  facilitate  the  public 
business  and  reduce  the  cost  of  gov- 
enunent. 

Every  people,  when  they  have  be- 
come accustomed  to  them,  are  apt  to 
regard  their  system    and  methods  of 


POLITICAL    DUTY    OF    CALIFORNIANS. 


government  as  the  best,  or  at  least 
with  toleration,  and  hence  there  is  an 
indisposition  to  make  changes  or  to 
inquire  whether  improvements  are 
necessary.  It  is  true  that  change 
may  not  be  reform,  but  it  is  also  true 
that  methods  in  California  are  not  as 
simple  and  practical  as  are  those  in 
some  of  the  states.  It  is  not  unnatural 
that  it  should  be  so,  because  they 
have  had  the  advantages  of  longer 
existence  and  greater  exiierience,  and 
have  not  been  environed  by  those  tre- 
mendous and  absorbing  enterprises 
and  efforts  to  develop  the  country, 
which  have  existed  in  this  .state.  The 
time  has  come  when  there  should  be 
earnest  and  intelligent  inquiry  into 
conditions  with  a  view  to  discovering 
where  changes  will  be  beneficial,  and 
when  discovered  to  see  that  they  are 
promptly  made. 

It  is  quite  different  now  from  what  it 
has  been.  Formerly  there  were  better 
opportunities  for  acquiring  large 
wealth  by  the  few,  in  railway  build- 
ing, in  mining,  agriculture,  in  the 
appreciation  of  land  values  and  in 
speculation.  L,ands  have  been  cheap, 
and  capital  in  the  past  could  be  more 
profitably  invested  than  at  the  present 
time.  The  great  ranches  to  an  extent 
have  been  subdivided  and  sold  to  small 
farmers.  Wealth  per  capita  is  less 
because  population  has  increased 
through  the  immigration  of  mechanics 
and  those  who  gain  livelihoods  from 
labor  on  the  farms.  When  the  bulk 
of  taxes  was  paid  by  those  whose  in- 
comes were  large  there  was  not  a 
marked  disposition  to  enforce  economy . 
Taxation  more  seriously  affects  the 
farmers  and  mechanics,  as  their  in- 
comes are  comparatively  small.  These 
changes  of  circumstances  have  pro- 
duced a  revolution  in  public  sentiment, 
and  it  is  increasing  in  its  hostility  to 
imnecessary  public  expenditures.  It 
is  best  for  the  country  that  it  should 
be  so.  The  political  party  that  is  blind 
to  or  ignores  the  tendency  of  the  times 
is  destined  to  be  engulfed  in  the  mael- 
strom of  popular  disapproval.  The 
two  great  political  parties  of  this  state 


in  1 890  comprehended  this,  and  sought 
to  satisfy  public  sentiment  by  passing 
resolutions  limiting  the  rate  of  taxation 
for  stale  purposes.  The  Republicans 
said  it  should  not  exceed  fifty  cents  on 
the  hundred  dollars,  and  the  Democrats 
reduced  it  to  forty-five  cents.  The 
principle  is  wrong,  but  the  motive 
may  have  been  good.  Resolutions 
have  no  binding  ellect,  and  though 
faith  may  apparently  be  kept,  yet 
actually  it  may  be  broken  tlirough 
an  arbitrary  increase  of  valuations  by 
the  Board  of  Equalization.  There 
can  be  no  cast-iron  rvile  applicable  to 
all  circumstances.  Fifty  or  twentj"- 
five  cents  on  the  hundred  dollars  may 
be  too  much  or  too  little.  All  and  no 
more  than  is  necessary  should  be  ap- 
propriated. If  they  receive  an  equiva- 
lent in  benefits  the  people  are  willing 
to  pay  any  necessary  rate  of  taxation. 
The  only  safe  and  just  rule  is  to  elect 
men  to  office  who  will  keep  expenses 
as  low  as  possible,  whatever  may  be 
the  circumstances.  Then  it  will  be 
unnecessary  to  throw  around  them 
the  restraining  influence  of  resolutions 
adopted  bj^  party  conventions. 

Of  our  legislatures  it  has  become  a 
trite  saying  that  the  last  is  the  worst. 
It  is,  probably,  unjust  to  thus  charac- 
terize all  of  them.  Such  opinions, 
however,  prove  that  the  people  have 
little  confidence  in  oursolons,  and  al.-o 
that  there  is  general  dereliction  ot 
dutj',  if  nothing  worse.  Reputation 
has  been  bad  so  long  that  mi.sconduct 
is  practically  tolerated  in  so  far  that 
effective  measures  are  not  adopted  to 
guard  against  it  in  future.  There  has 
been  plenty  of  rotation  in  electing 
legislators  without  improvement,  in 
fact — or,  at  least  so  far  as  public  opin- 
ion goes,  whether  there  shall  be  a 
change  for  the  better  is  a  matter  that 
rests  entirely  with  the  people.  They 
are  all-powerful,  and  unless  they  can 
be  aroused  to  healthful  and  effective 
action  there  never  will  be  reform.  So 
long  as  the  people  are  apathetic,  in- 
competency, indifierence  and  boodle- 
ism  will  rule.  To  elect  Senators  is 
not  the  chief  object  for  which  Icgisla- 


POLITICAL    DUTY    OF    CALIFORNIANS. 


tors  are  chosen,  nor  is  it  their  mission 
to  promote  class  interests,  or  to  engage 
in  jobs.  Their  duty  is  to  make  a 
study  of  the  situation,  to  revise  and 
improve  at  all  points,  and  do  their 
utmost  to  promote  economy  and  effect- 
iveness in  government.  It  is  not 
enough  to  merely  elect  new  men,  but 
the  utmost  care  must  be  taken  to 
secure  those  who  are  honest,  capable 
and  faithful.  The  official  who  is  de- 
linquent in  the  discharge  of  duty,  and 
the  rascal,  must  be  visited  with  con- 
dign punishment — the  former  as  a 
political,  and  the  latter  as  a  social, 
outcast.  A  proper  bestowal  of  rewards 
and  the  infliction  of  deserved  punish- 
ment will  have  a  most  salutary  effect. 
We  have  had  many  good  legislators, 
but  the  trouble  has  been  that  there 
has  not  been  enough  of  them. 

An  obstacle  to  a  more  rapid  approach 
to  perfection  in  our  in.stitutions  and 
laws  is  the  proneness  to  allow  political 
considerations  to  subordinate  the  pub- 
lic interests.  Governors  and  legisla- 
tors look  too  much  after  party  or 
personal  success  to  admit  of  that  care- 
ful and  comprehensive  consideration 
of  measures  which  is  dictated  by  a 
paramount  desire  to  promote  the 
public  welfare.  The  best  party  strategy 
is  to  give  the  people  the  best  govern- 
ment. No  public  officer  should  be 
influenced  by  selfish  considerations 
beyond  the  desire  to  deserve  the  good 
opinion  and  gratitude  of  the  people 
by  a  wise  and  faithful  discharge  of 
duties. 

Government  is  a  progressive  science, 
and  the  people,  as  well  as  legislators 
and  officials,  should  ever  hold  the 
improving  hand  in  readiness  to  be 
applied  whenever  or  wherever  defects 
are  discovered.  As  the  first  settlers 
of  a  country  are  not  apt  to  do  their 
work  with  system  and  thoroughness, 
so  the  pioneers  in  instituting  a  govern- 
ment do  not,  as  a  rule,  make  the  best 
constitution  and  laws.  They  should 
be  changed  to  meet  the  exigencies  of 
changed  conditions.  Experience  is 
the  greatest  of  schools.  We  have 
before  us  the  results   of  experiments 


that  have  been  made  by  all  the  states 
of  the  nation.  Experiments  have  been 
so  numerous  that  there  is  little  danger 
of  mistake  if  there  is  proper  research, 
and  changes  are  thoughtfully  made. 
Errors  in  legislation  may  be  in  doing 
too  much  as  well  as  not  enough,  while 
wisdom  may  be  gained  from  the  study 
of  the  institutions  and  laws  of  other 
states.  Conditions  are  varied  and 
changes  .should  be  made  adaptable  to 
our  own.  Defects  in  legislation  are 
not  the  only  evils.  Details  in  admin- 
istration demand  faithful,  intelligent 
and  patriotic  attention.  There  are 
extravagances  and  blunders  to  be 
guarded  against  in  every  branch  of 
the  public  service.  If  the  highest 
officials  set  the  proper  example,  delin- 
quency in  subordinate  places  will  be 
less  likely  to  occur. 

The  true  principles  of  popular  gov- 
ernment have  become  well  defined  and 
established  after  a  centurj'  of  experi- 
ment. They  are  no  longer  a  subject 
of  contention.  The  questions  before 
us  are  material  and  social.  A  state 
has  little  to  do  with  foreign  commerce 
and  relations.  Its  authority  is  mainly 
confined  to  its  own  internal  affairs. 
The  social  feature  involves  questions 
of  intellectual  and  moral  development, 
as  well  as  material;  protection  against 
crime  and  wrong,  and  fostering  educa- 
tional and  charitable  institutions.  It 
is  incumbent  on  the  state  to  so  regu- 
late the  relations  of  labor  and  capital 
that  each  .shall  receive  its  just  rewards. 
These  questions  will  not  be  wisely 
dealt  with  if  partizan  success  is  the 
controlling  motive,  nor  if  any  consid- 
erable percentage  of  the  citizens  are 
neglectful  in  the  discharge  of  their 
public  duties.  The  best  solution  of 
all  political,  material  and  social  prob- 
lems will  be  wrought  when  the  aggre- 
gate judgment  of  the  whole  is  brought 
to  bear  upon  them.  If  politics  are  left 
to  rings  and  bosses,  the  wisest  results 
cannot  be  expected.  Since  California 
became  a  state  there  have  been  before 
the  country  national  questions  of  the 
gravest  character.  Happily  many  of 
them  have  been  permanently  settled. 


!'OLITICAL    DUTY    Ol-    CALIFORNIANS. 


20 


National  issues  of  importance,  how- 
ever, will  always  exist,  and  there  is  a 
tendency  on  the  part  of  the  people  to 
permit  them  to  overshadow  those  which 
are  local  to  the  state.  Our  political 
duties  are  dual  to  the  nation  and  state. 
Neither  should  be  disregarded.  State 
goverinnent  is  closer  to  us  than  the 
national.  It  has  most  to  do  with 
business  and  social   affairs,  and  it  im- 


poses the  heaviest  burden  in  the  way 
of  taxation.  In  natural  resources,  in 
the  intelligence  and-  energy  of  her 
people,  California  is  equal  to  the  great- 
est states,  and  in  population  and  wealth 
she  is  destined  ere  long  to  rival  the 
foremost.  It  should  be  the  ambition 
of  every  class  of  our  people  to  make 
her  the  peer  of  the  best  in  the  excel- 
lence of  her  government. 


\  cr 


^&^^' 


CHAPTER  VI. 
OUR   COMMERCIAL  GROWTH    AND   THE   TARIFF. 

FROM    A    REPUBLICAN   STANDPOINT. 


PRODUCTIONS  ill  this  country 
are  of  wide  range  and  abundant, 
through  favorable  climatic  condi- 
tions, exceeding  fertility  of  soil,  and 
the  energy  and  intelligence  of  the 
people.  The  United  States  is  the 
greatest  producing  nation  in  the 
world,  especially  of  articles  of  food, 
and  of  materials  which  enter  into 
manufactures.  America 
more  per  capita  than  ain  i 
yet  we  produce  .surpluses 
the  necessaries  of  life  a 
luxuries.  If  her  bleak 
possessions  are  taken  into  account, 
Russia  alone  is  larger  in  contiguous 
territory  ;  but  in  number  of  enlight- 
ened   i)(i]nil:iti()n     the     I'niled    States 


s    cnnsnme 


Asi; 


inie 


is  true  as  to  seacdasts  and  number  of 
capacious  liarbors.  In  domestic  com- 
merce we  stand  first,  but  in  inter- 
national trade  we  are  third.  Great 
Britain  being  first  and  Gennanj' 
second.  Our  natural  advantages 
entitle  us  to  leader.shi])  in  foreign  as 
well  as  in  internal  trade. 

The    foreign     commerce     of     Crrcat 


Britain,  through  duplication  of  ac- 
counts, is  undoubtedly  consideral)ly 
exaggerated.  Aside  from  iron  and 
tin  ores,  the  British  Isles  are  not  great 
producers  of  raw  materials  for  man- 
ufacturing. The)-  are  largely  procured 
from  their  dependencies  and  other 
countries,  and  when  wrought  into 
forms  for  con.sumption,  are  exported. 
This  is  especially  the  ca.se  as  to  cotton, 
w(Kil,  hides,  jute,  and  many  other  raw 
matei  ials.  Great  Britain  also  imports 
tea,  toffee,  .spices,  breadstuffs  and  pro- 
visions for  exportation.  They  are 
taken  up  on  the  import  side  of 
accounts,  in  the  one  ca.se,  and  entered 
on  the  export  side,  in  the  other.  The 
same  is  true  in  Germany,  only  to  a 
less  extent. 

There  is  very  little  exported  from 
this  country  that  is  not  wholly  jiro- 
duced  here.  If  dujilication  were 
eliminated  from  British  and  German 
accounts,  our  position  in  international 
trade  would  be  relatively  higher  and 
possil)ly  highest  ;  but  our  foreign 
tr.-ide  is  far  less  than  it  ought  to  be,  or 
wtnild  be,  if  proper  elTorts  were  made 


OUR    COAWM£RClAL    GROWTH    AND    THE    TARIFF. 


■\\ 


to  develop  it.  To  find  markets  for 
their  surplus  products,  is  of  the  high- 
est importance  to  any  people,  and 
especially  to  us,  since  we  have  passed 
the  colonizing  period,  and  have  gained 
a  position  in  which  we  are  able  to 
produce  almost  without  limit.  Our 
industries  have  already  reached  im- 
mense proportion,  and  are  destined  to 
the  greatest  development  in  the  future, 
if  proper  efforts  are  made.  On  the 
whole,  our  productions  are  not  likely 
to  be  reduced  but  increased,  and  there 
will  be  greater  necessity  for  larger 
markets. 

Ever  since  the  Phoenicians  gained 
great  wealth  from  commerce,  the 
magnitude  of  foreign  trade  has  been 
deemed  a  measure  of  a  nation's 
material  prosperity ;  whether  such 
traflBc  is  beneficial  or  not,  depends 
upon  its  character.  A  nation  which 
imports  more  for  consumption  than  it 
exports  caimot  prosper  any  more  than 
the  individual  who  consumes  more 
than  he  produces.  Great  Britain 
rapidly  gained  wealth  for  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years,  for  the  reason,  mainly, 
that  generally  she  was  able  to  secure 
balances  of  trade  in  her  favor.  As 
commonly  understood,  a  balance  of 
trade  is  the  difference  arising  from  an 
exchange  of  commodities  which  is  met 
with  cash.  An  individual  who  buys 
what  he  should  produce,  grows 
poorer  ;  and  so  it  is  with  the  people. 
Nations,  like  individuals,  are  at  times 
obliged  to  purchase  more  than  they 
sell.  The  farmer  must  do  this  while 
he  is  erecting  necessary  buildings 
and  preparing  his  new  farm  for  culti- 
vation; and  this  countr>'  was  similarly 
situated  in  its  young  and  colonizing 
days.  That  necessity  no  longer 
exists,  for  the  preparatory  period  has 
passed  away.  In  the  early  days, 
there  were  .statesmen  who  forcca.sted 
the  future  and  urged  policies  that 
would  avoid  depletion  through  adverse 
balances  of  trade.  The  policy  pur- 
sued from  Washington  to  Polk  was 
measurably  successful  in  preventing 
diminution  of  our  money  resources. 
There  were  adverse  balances  of  trade, 


which  resulted  in  no  grievous  harm, 
because  virgin  wealth  was  so  great ; 
but  commendable  efforts  were  put 
forth  to  build  up  manufacturing  to 
supply  home  wants,  and  a  merchant 
marine  capable  of  doing  our  own 
transportation  on  the  high  seas. 

In  1846,  a  new  policy  was  inaugu- 
rated which  checked  industrial  growth, 
and  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  swept 
our  shipping  from  the  .sea.  For  thirty 
years  from  and  after  1846,  balances  of 
trade  were  uniformly  against  us,  and 
the  country  would  have  been  greatly 
distressed  for  money,  had  it  not  been 
for  the  phenomenal  production  of  gold 
in  California.  For  fifteen  years,  which 
was  a  period  of  peace,  there  was  a 
continual  outflow  of  gold  from  this 
countr>%  caused  in  large  part  by 
depression  of  manufacturing  indus- 
tries, through  the  influence  of  the 
Tariff  Act  of  that  year  ;  and  from  1861 
to  1865,  balances  resulted  from  the 
necessity  to  purchase  war  materials  in 
Europe.  In  1862,  the  policy  which 
was  advocated  by  Washington,  and  all 
the  Presidents  down  to  Polk,  was 
restored,  but  time  was  required  to  put 
our  industries  on  a  footing  that  would 
enable  them  to  produce  sufiicient  to 
supply  domestic  demands.  Conditions 
were  extraordinary,  as  a  large  labor 
force  was  employed  in  war,  and  con- 
sumption was  unusual,  for  war  is 
destruction.  For  years  after  the  con- 
flict closed,  the  energies  of  the  people 
were  devoted  to  colonizing  and  devel- 
oping new  regions,  to  building  railroads, 
and  making  other  internal  improve- 
ments. Ten  years  after  the  war 
were  required  to  place  ourselves  in  a 
condition  to  overcome  adverse  balances, 
and  turn  the  tide  in  our  favor.  This 
result  would  not  have  been  achieved 
so  soon,  but  for  the  remarkable  increase 
of  agricultural  productions  and  excep- 
tional demand  for  them  in  Europe. 
Had  the  principle  of  the  tariff  of  1846 
been  restored  at  the  clo,se  of  the  war, 
and  contiimously  adhered  to,  there 
would  not  now  be  large  and  diversified 
manufacturing  industries  in  this 
country  ;  and    however  immense  our 


Ry- 


y  O  NIVERSITT 


32 


OUR    COMMERCIAL    GROWTH    AND    THE    TARIFF. 


agricultural  productions,  there  could 
scarcely  have  been  an}'  foreign  demand 
for  them  which  would  have  paid  for 
imported  manufactures.  The  protec- 
tive principle  having  been  preserved, 
our  industries  have  thrived.  For  the 
first  time  in  thirty  years,  at  the  end  of 
the  fiscal  year  of  1877,  a  handsome 
balance  appeared  in  our  favor,  and  the 
tide  has  flowed  our  way  ever  since, 
except  in  1888,  and  1889  ;  but  from 
June  30,  1876,  to  June  30,  1892,  the 
net  aggregate  of  balances  in  our  favor 
was  $1,762,000,000.  Our  gold  re- 
sources have  been  increased  $500, 000,- 
000 ;  some  of  our  securities  held 
abroad  have  been  paid  off,  and  others 
have  been  purchased,  and  brought 
home  ;  so  that  interest  on  them  is 
paid  here,  instead  of  to  holders  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  After 
years  of  suspension  of  specie  pay- 
ment, the  Government  has  been  able 
to  enter  upon  and  maintain  a  gold 
paymg  basis,  and  to  make  treasury 
and'  national  bank  notes  circulable 
everywhere  at  par  with  gold.  Our 
policy  has  had  the  effect,  also,  to 
place  foreign  countries  in  financial 
straits.  The  Bank  of  England,  a 
little  more  than  a  year  ago,  was  ob- 
liged to  obtain  $70,000,000  in  gold 
from  this  country  and  for  which  a 
premium  was  paid.  There  is  to-day 
a  gold  stringency  in  several  of  the 
leading  nations  of  Europe,  and  if 
favorable  balances  of  trade  continue, 
the  result  will  be  to  compel  mono- 
metalist  nations  of  Europe  to  resort 
to  some  international  standard  of  value 
additional  to  that  of  gold.  Silver's 
hope  rests  upon  the  maintenance  of 
the  protective  principle  in  tariif  legis- 
lation. It  contributes  materially  to 
an  increase  of  our  domestic  circulating 
medium,  which  is  so  much  needed, 
and  by  a  kind  of  money  which  all 
nations  regard  as  the  best.  Results 
so  beneficial  have  been  achieved  with- 
out the  aid  of  an  adequate  merchant 
marine;  in  fact  we  have  been  so 
dependent  ou  foreigners  and  rivals  for 
transportation,  that  in  the  last  fiscal 
year    six  -  sevenths    of     our     foreign 


commerce  were  carried  in  foreign  bot- 
toms. 

There  has  been  in  this  country 
over-production  of  cotton,  breadstufis 
and  provisions,  but  under-production 
in  some  lines  of  manufacture.  For 
fifteen  years  anterior  to  the  enactment 
of  the  McKinley  law,  we  annually 
imported,  on  the  average,  merchan- 
dise to  the  value  of  $300,000,000  or 
$400,000,000  consisting  chiefly  of  man- 
ufactures which  we  should  have  pro- 
duced for  ourselves.  Nearly  three- 
fourths  of  our  exports  are  products  of 
agriculture,  and  if  mineral  illuminat- 
ing oils  are  included,  tliey  constitute 
a  larger  percentage.  We  import  more 
manufactures  than  we  export,  which 
shows  that  we  do  not  on  the  whole  man- 
ufacture sufficient  to  supply  domestic 
consumption.  It  is  therefore  wise 
that  we  should  develop  those  indus- 
tries in  which  we  are  deficient,  to 
supply  home  wants  to  the  utmost 
practicable  extent.  This  will  lessen 
importation  and  consequentlj'  enlarge 
balances  of  trade  in  our  favor.  The 
time  has  come  when  this  policy  also 
should  be  pursued  with  a  view  to 
larger  exportation  of  manirfactures. 
We  have  relied  too  much  on  export- 
ing products  of  agriculture.  Indeed, 
our  people  have  not  displayed  their 
wonted  energy  in  building  up  export 
trade.  Because  we  produce  some 
things  that  other  countries  do  not  or 
cannot,  they  have  been  quite  content 
to  let  others  come  to  us.  The  most 
efiective  work  could  not  have  been 
done  in  developing  export  trade,  for 
the  want  of  transportation  of  our  own. 
A  fallacious  idea  has  prevailed  as  to 
the  best  markets  for  our  surplus  agri- 
cultural products.  Because  Great 
Britain  has  hitherto  been  the  largest 
buyer  of  our  food  articles  and  raw 
materials,  there  are  those  who  believe 
our  best  interest  lies  in  promoting 
trade  with  that  country  ;  but  she  need 
not  come  to  us  for  articles  of  food  or 
for  raw  materials,  except  cotton. 
The  United  Kingdom  and  Ireland  pro- 
duce wheat  enough  to  supply  their 
people  to  the  extent  of  2j^   bvishels 


OUR    COMMERCIAL    GROWTH    AND    THE    TARIFF. 


to  the  person.  Per  capita  consump- 
tion in  the  United  States,  where 
nearlj'  all  the  population  daily  eat 
wheat  bread,  is  but  5  bushels,  while 
in  tho.se  countries  it  is  a  rarity  to 
more  than  a  moiety  of  the  people. 
India  and  Australia  export  from  45,- 
000,000  to  60,000,000  bushels  of  wheat 
per  annum,  and  they  are  depend- 
encies of  Great  Britain.  British 
America  exports  wheat,  and  there 
are  such  railway  and  steamship  facili- 
ties that  the  mother  country  can 
obtain  it  there  at  less  cost  than  from 
us.  The  Argentine  Republic  ex- 
ports 12,000,000  bushels,  which  are 
taken  largely  in  exchange  for  Brit- 
ish manufactures.  Austria-Hungary, 
France,  Italy  and  Spain  are  exporters 
of  wheat,  and  Russia,  on  the  aver- 
age, exports  25,000,000  bushels  more 
than  we  do.  Ordinarily,  Germany 
raises  breadstuffs  enough  for  her  own 
people.  Europe,  on  the  average, 
produces  1,250,000,000  bushels  of 
wheat,  which  is  sufficient  for  the 
people  of  that  continent.  It  is  not  to 
any  great  extent  that  Great  Britain 
buys  of  us  to  feed  her  own  people,  but 
she  does  purchase  largely  to  supply 
countries  to  which  we  should  export 
directly.  She  is  a  dealer,  and  finding 
out  what  all  countries  want,  she 
arranges  to  supply  them.  She  can 
do  this,  because  she  has  the  means  of 
transportation,  her  tonnage  being 
equal  to  that  of  all  other  nations  com- 
bined. European  people  must  have 
our  cotton,  because  nothing  yet  pro- 
duced in  the  world  can  take  its  place. 
If  we  manufacture  it,  all  other  nations 
would  be  compelled  to  accept  it  in 
fabric,  as  they  now  do  in  the  bale. 
What  a  vast  field  for  employment 
would  be  opened  to  our  people,  and 
what  immense  wealth  would  come  to 
the  country,  if  all  our  cotton  were 
manufactured  at  home  and  then  sold 
abroad  ! 

The  best  trade  is  that  between 
nations  whose  productions  are  differ- 
ent. It  would  not  be  sensible  for  one 
farmer  to  seek  to  sell  to  another  whose 
products   are   the   same   as  his   own. 


There  is  not  much  of  importance  pro- 
duced in  Europe,  wliicli  we  do  not  or 
cannot  produce,  and  therefore  the 
people  over  there  need  not  buy  of  us, 
barring  cotton,  nor  we  of  them,  to 
any  great  extent,  except  there  is  an 
unusual  condition,  such  as  poor  crops 
or  a  state  of  war.  There  is  an  adverse 
balance  of  trade  with  France  because 
we  buy  her  wines  and  silks ;  with 
Germany,  because  we  buy  her  sugar  ; 
and  with  Italy,  because  we  import  her 
fruits — all  of  which  we  are  able  to 
produce  for  ourselves.  These  are 
only  some  of  the  commodities  imported 
from  those  countries,  and  with  which 
we  should  supply  ourselves.  If  our 
industries,  manufacturing  and  agri- 
cultural, were  properly  diversified  and 
enlarged,  there  would  be  little  that 
we  should  need  of  European  prod- 
uct. We  have  been  expending, 
annually,  $15,000,000  for  oranges, 
lemons,  raisins,  olives,  figs,  preserved 
fruits  and  nuts,  which  California  alone 
can  produce  in  sufficient  quantities  to 
supply  the  whole  country.  The  protec- 
tion afforded  by  the  McKinley  law 
will  shortly  enable  us  to  avoid  this 
outlay,  and  cause  the  fifteen  million 
dollars  to  be  paid  to  Califomians  and 
Floridians,  instead  of  foreigners. 

Generally,  in  trade  with  Great 
Britain,  there  is  a  large  balance  of 
trade  in  our  favor;  in  1891,  it 
amounted  to  $250,000,000,  yet  in  that 
year  we  shipped  her  $60,000,000  in  gold 
which  were  used  to  square  our  trade 
accounts  with  other  countries.  We 
send  more  gold  there  than  to  all  other 
nations,  because  trade  balances  of  the 
world  are  paid  in  London.  Through 
English  banks  we  pay  balances  to 
Germany,  France  and  other  European 
States,  and  also  to  Brazil,  Cuba,  the 
East  and  West  Indies,  Mexico,  the 
northern  States  of  South  America, 
Central  America,  China,  Japan  and 
many  other  countries.  The  gold  of 
the  world  concenters  in  lyOndon,  and 
is  there  distributed,  because  Great 
Britain  through  her  ubiquitous  mer- 
chant marine  has  control  of  the  chan- 
nels of  commerce.     The  gold  standard 


OUR    COA^MERCIAL    GROWTH    AND    THE    TARU^f. 


of  value  originated  in  that  country, 
and  it  will  be  maintained  so  long  as 
she  remains  the  commercial  clearing 
house  of  the  world. 

Adverse  balances  of  trade  do  not 
arise  in  Europe  as  a  whole,  but  in 
countries  elsewhere.  In  1891,  we 
bought  of  Brazil  (I  use  round  iium- 
bens)  $83,000,000,  and  sold  her  $14,- 
000,000  :  of  Cuba  $64,000,000,  and 
sold  her  $12,000,000  ;  of  Mexico  $41,- 
000,000  and  sold  her  $14,000,000  ;  of 
the  Central  American  States  $9,500,- 
-000,  and  sold  them  $6,000,000  ;  of  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  $14,000,000,  and 
sold  them  $5,000,000.  The  balance 
against  us  in  China  was  $10,500,000 
and  in  Japan  $14,000,000.  Outside  of 
Europe  the  aggregate  of  balances 
against  us  was  about  $200,000,000.  In 
1892,  the  aggregate  was  considerably 
less,  because,  through  reciprocity  in 
large  part,  our  exports  were  increased 
$145,000,000.  Brazil,  Cuba,  Mexico, 
Central  America,  China,  Japan,  the 
East  and  West  Indies,  Hawaiian  and 
Phillipine  Islands,  Oceanica,  and  the 
northern  States  of  South  America  pro- 
duce many  things  that  we  cannot,  and 
which  we  consume  ;  and  we  produce 
much  that  they  cannot.  None  of 
them  raise  largely  of  breadstuffs  and 
provisions,  nor  do  the}'  manufacture 
except  in  a  comparatively  small  way 
and  to  supply  a  few  wants.  Condi- 
tions in  those  countries  forbid,  or  are 
unfavorable  to  manufacturing  on  an 
extensive  scale.  Trade  with  them 
consists  almost  wholly  of  an  exchange 
of  commodities.  It  is  in  enlargement 
of  direct  trade  with  them  that  all 
danger  of  adverse  balances  will  be 
removed.  Considering  these  facts, 
one  cannot  be  otherwise  than  im- 
pressed with  the  importance  of  mak- 
ing vigorous  efforts  to  manufacture  in 
larger  quantity  and  in  greater  variety, 
in  order  to  be  able  to  supply  those 
countries. 

It  was  but  natural  that  in  the  past 
the  greatest  efforts  should  have  been 
made  to  find  markets  abroad  for  the 
products  of  agriculture,  because  the 
-'untry   had  little  else  to  sell.     The 


farmers  did  not  for  a  long  time  seem 
to  understand  that  domestic  markets 
are  better  for  them  than  foreign,  or 
that  it  is  best  for  both  that  producer 
and  consumer  should  live  near  each 
other  in  order  to  save  the  cost  of 
transportation.  A  thousand  artisans 
or  laborers  in  this  country  will  con- 
.sume  more  than  the  same  number  in 
Europe,  because  they  receive  more 
wages  and  can  afford  to  live  better. 
Therefore,  producers  of  breadstuffs, 
provisions,  fruits  and  vegetables,  and 
raw  materials  should  favor  the  policy 
that  will  increase  the  number  of 
consumers  at  home  and  transfer  the 
surplus  labor  from  the  field  to  the 
shop  and  mill.  If  this  policy  is  pur- 
sued, the  day  is  not  distant  when  the 
country'  will  not  be  over-burdened 
with  agricultural  products.  Con- 
sumption is  rapidly  approaching 
equality  with  production.  When  it 
has  reached  that  point,  it  will  be 
important  that  we  should  be  able  to 
pay  for  the  necessaries  of  life,  which 
must  be  procured  in  other  lands,  with 
manufactures.  Because  there  were 
large  surpluses  of  farm  products,  the 
Mckinley  law  was  framed  and  adopted 
by  the  Republican  party  so  as  to  give 
better  protection  to  agriculture  than 
any  previous  tariff  measure.  While 
nearly  three-fourths  of  our  exports 
are  agricultural  products,  nearly  one- 
half  in  value  is  cotton.  All  our 
surpluses  of  food  articles,  which  will 
stand  transportation  for  a  considerable 
distance,  can  be  disposed  of  to  coun- 
tries south  and  west  to  better  advan- 
tage than  to  other  parts  of  the  world. 
Reciprocity  is  based  upon  the  idea  of 
developing  such  a  trade.  In  many 
lines  our  ability  to  produce  raw 
materials  is  practically  limitless,  and 
agriculturists  will  find  it  immensely  to 
their  interest  to  produce  sugar,  wool, 
hides  and  fruits,  which  we  now 
largely  import. 

The  legislation  of  the  fifty-first  Con- 
gress is  admirably  adapted  to  tat- 
growth  of  industry  and  commerce 
without  the  imposition  of  unnecessary 
burdens  upon  the  people.     The  Tariff 


OUR    COMMERCIAL    GROWTH    AND    THE    TARIFF. 


Act  places  iu  the  non-duliable  sched- 
ules all  necessaries  of  life  impracti- 
cable of  production  at  home.  High 
duties  are  put  upon  luxuries,  because 
they  are  mainly  consumed  by  those 
who  are  able  to  bear  the  expen.se. 
Upon  such  commodities  as  we  can 
reasonably  produce,  the  duties  are 
just  high  enough  to  make  up  the 
difference  in  the  co.st  of  production  in 
this  and  foreign  countries,  which 
difference  is  chiefly,  if  not  wholly,  one 
of  wages.  Such  duties  simply  equal- 
ize conditions  and  render  monopoly  in 
production  impossible  either  at  home 
or  abroad.  The  only  departure  from 
this  principle  is  in  imposing  higher 
duties  to  protect  new  and  infantile 
industries  until  thej^  are  able  to  com- 
pete with  foreign  producers.  Benefits 
are  bestowed  upon  agriculturists  and 
manufacturers  with  impartiality.  If, 
as  General  Hancock  said,  the  tariff  is 
a  local  question,  California  is  more 
interested  in  it  than  almost  any  part 
of  the  nation.  There  are  numerous 
industries  which  are  benefited  by  pro- 
tection ;  and  in  looking  through  the 
McKinlej'  law,  one  cannot  avoid 
being  impre.sscd  with  the  idea  that 
the  Republican  Congress  which  enacted 
it  legislated  liberal!}'  with  reference  to 
the  interest  of  California,  the  empire 
Pacific  State.  This  will  appear  more 
clearly  and  forcibly  by  contrasting 
the  law  with  the  Act  of  18S3  and  the 
Mills  bill.  The  duties  are  raised 
on  wool,  brandy,  sparkling  wines, 
grapes,  raisins,  figs,  nuts,  and  gener- 
ally on  green  and  preser\-ed  fruits ; 
particularly  is  this  true  iu  contrast 
with  the  Mills  bill.  There  is  hardly 
a  California  industry  that  is  not  pro- 
tected. The  spirit  of  the  law  is  to 
assure  compensator}'  wages  to  the 
laborer,  and  to  capital  reasonable 
renunieration. 

The  legislation  of  that  Congress 
would  have  been  incomplete  if  the 
Tariff  Act  had  not  been  supplemented 
by  one  that  encourages  the  creation  of 
an  American  merchant  marine.  The 
benefits  of  industrial  legislation  would 
not  be  realized  in  full  measure,  unless 


something  were  done  to  give  impetus 
to  commercial  development.  It  is 
not  far  from  the  exact  truth  to  say, 
that  we  arc  paying  to  foreign  .ship- 
owners $100,000,000  per  annum  for 
transportation  of  our  pa.ssengcrs  and 
freight  upon  the  high  seas.  It  is  an 
outlay  that  should  be  avoided  ;  a  de- 
pletion that  .should  not  be  endured. 
No  nation  can  .succeed  in  competitive 
traffic  which  must  depend  upon  rivals 
for  the  means  of  transportation.  Ships 
are  handmaids  to  foreign  commerce. 
The  carr}-ing  trade  upon  the  .seas  is 
controlled  by  European  nations.  To 
them  the  cost  of  transportation  is  less 
than  to  Americans,  because  the  wages 
of  their  .seamen  are  less  ;  and  added  to 
this  is  the  fact  that  the  principal  mari- 
time powers  afford  pecuniarj-  aid  to 
their  steamship  lines  engaged  in  trade 
between  the  great  distributing  centers 
of  the  world.  Great  Britain  does  this 
through  postal  estimates,  France  by 
tonnage  bounties,  and  Germany,  Italy 
and  Spain,  by  direct  subsidies.  These 
are  the  conditions  under  which  our 
people  must  compete  for  a  status  in 
the  carr}-ing  trade  upon  the  seas.  It 
has  been  proposed  to  admit  foreign 
built  ships  to  an  American  registr}-. 
Such  a  measure  would  be  but  slightly 
beneficial,  as  the  difference  in  the  cost 
of  construction  is  now  but  eight  per 
cent,  according  to  the  statement  of 
Senator  Gorman  of  Marjdand  recently 
made  in  the  Senate  ;  and  it  would  be 
unwise,  because  to  purchase  foreign 
ships,  instead  of  building  them  at 
home,  would  give  employment  to 
foreign  instead  of  American  mechanics, 
involving  the  payment  of  money  to 
other  people  when  it  should  be 
expended  at  home.  We  now  have 
yards,  established  under  difficulty  and 
great  expense,  which  are  capable  of 
turning  out  the  best  quality  of  ships, 
and  we  are  able  to  produce  ship- 
building materials  in  the  greatest 
abundance.  The  fifty-first  Congress 
authorized  the  Postmaster-General  to 
contract  for  carrying  the  mail  for  a 
seriesof  years,  and  to  pay  liberally  for 
the  ser%'ice,  in  order  to  induce  Amer- 


OL'R    COMMKRCIAL    GROWTH    AND    THE    TARIFF. 


leans  to  put  competitive  lines  upon  the 
ocean  ;  and  one  of  the  conditions  is, 
that  the  Government  may  take  the 
ships  for  naval  uses,  in  case  of  war. 
It  is  a  measure  which  is  necessary-, 
because  other  nations  grant  pecuniary 
assistance  to  their  steamship  lines. 
If  the  law  is  permitted  to  stand,  and 
is  faithfully  executed,  it  will  tend 
strongly  to  the  creation  of  a  merchant 
marine  worthy  a  nation  of  our  great- 
ness and  power.  Its  value  can  hardly 
be  overestimated.  All  the  ship-owners 
and  officers  will  be  interested  solicitors 


of  trade  for  their  countrymen.  Our 
exportations  will  be  direct  and  we 
cannot  be  embarrassed  by  rivals. 

The  policy  thus  inaugurated,  if 
adhered  to,  will  give  larger  employ- 
ment to  our  people,  strengthen  our 
finances,  assure  an  honorable  and 
influential  position  in  the  world's 
commerce,  a  power  in  diplomacy,  and 
a  position  in  the  politics  of  nations,  to 
which  we  are  entitled  from  our 
unequaled  wealth, from  the  intelligence 
of  the  people  and  the  freedom  of  our 
institutions. 


CIIAPTKR    VII. 
OUR    COMMERCIAL  GROWTH    AND    THE   TARIFF/'^  t 

FROM   A    DEMOCRATIC  STANDPOINT. 


THE  Editor  of  The  Califorxi.vn 
Illustrated  Magazine  has  re- 
que.stecl  me  to  give  an  abstract  of 
my  views  relative  to  the  very  inter- 
esting article  by  Mr.  R.  H.  McDonald 
Jr.,  entitled:  "  Commercial  Growth 
the  resnlt  of  a  Republican  Tariff" 
Mr.  McDonald  says  much  which 
cannot  be  succe.s.sfully  disputed,  and 
which,  I  conceive,  points  to  a  conclu- 
sion differing  radically  from  that 
which  he  has  reached.  I  quote : 
"  Ev^er  since  the  Phrenicians  gained 
great  wealth  from  commerce,  the  mag- 
nitude of  foreign  trade  has  been 
deemed  the  mea.sure  of  a  nation's 
material  prosperity."  Again,  "Results 
so  beneficial  liave  been  achieved  with- 
out the  aid  of  an  adequate  merchant 
marine.  In  fact,  we  have  been  .so 
dependent  upon  foreigners  and  rivals 
for  transportation,  that  in  the  last 
fiscal  year  six-i5evenths  of  our  foreign 
commerce  were  carried  in  foreign 
bottoms."    Again:    "  We  have  relied 


*la  the  preparation 
consulted    Mr.     Rfotfet' 
aiso  the  vahiable  .statistical 
lished  in  the  "  Examine 
of  Hon.  David  A.  Wells. 

t  Reply  by  U.  S.  Senator  Step! 


irticle,  I  have  freely 
able  tariff  articles, 
brmatiou  lately  pub- 


too  much  on  exporting  products  of 
agriculture.  Indeed,  our  jieople  have 
not  displayed  their  wonted  energy  in 
building  up  export  trade.  Because 
we  produce  some  things  that  other 
countries  do  not  or  cannot,  they  have 
been  quite  content  to  let  others  come 
to  us.  The  most  effective  w'ork  could 
not  have  been  done  for  the  want  of 
transportation. ' '  The  summary  given 
of  our  trade  balances  with  Brazil, 
Cuba,  Mexico,  the  Central  American 
States,  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  China 
and  Japan,  is  not  encouraging, 
and  does  not  indicate  "commercial 
growth."  I  will  endeavor  to  follow 
Mr.  McDonald's  argument,  and  ascer- 
tain whether  he  is  justified  in  sounding 
the  prai.ses  of  the  McKinlej'  bill,  and 
other  kindred  Republican  fiscal  legis- 
lation. He  states:  "The  policy  pur- 
sued from  Wa.shington  to  Polk  was 
measurably  successful  in  preventing 
diminution  of  our  money  resources. ' ' 
Also:  "In  1S46,  a  new  policy  was 
inaugurated  which  checked  industrial 
growth,  and  the  War  of  the  Rebellion 
swept  our  shipping  from  the  .sea.  *  ■^'  * 
In  1862,   the  policy  which  was  advo- 


38 


OUR    COMMERCIAL    GROWTH    AND    THE    TARIFF. 


cated  by  Washington  and  all  the  other 
Presidents  down  to  Polk,  was  restored. ' ' 
Much  has  been  written  during  this 
campaigu  with  reference  to  the  policy 
alleged  to  have  been  advocated  by 
Washington  and  other  Presidents. 
Every  student  knows,  or  ought  to 
know,  that  no  such  tariff  as  the  present 
was  thought  of  in  our  earlier  history. 
No  one  then  dreamed  that  in  hours 
of  tranquillity  the  power  of  the  Federal 
Government  would  be  deliberately 
used  to  make  rich  men  richer  and 
poor  men  poorer.  Republican  leaders 
direct  our  attention  to  the  preamble 
of  the  Tariff  Act  of  1789;  viz: 
' '  Whereas,  it  is  necessary  for  the  sup- 
port of  this  Government,  for  the 
discharge  of  the  debts  of  the  United 
States  and  the  encouragement  and 
protection  of  manufactures,  that  duties 
be  laid,  etc."  This  preamble  must  be 
interpreted  by  the  Act  which  accom- 
panied it.  The  duties  there  pre- 
scribed ranged  from  5  to  15  per  cent. 
It  is  therefore  patent  that  it  was  the 
idea  of  ' '  the  fathers  ' '  that  manufac- 
turers might  receive  such  protection  as 
incidentally  followed  a  tariff  for  rev- 
enue only.  The  Democracy  proposes 
no  such  moderate  tariff  as  that  to 
which  Washington  gave  his  indorse- 
ment. The  schedule  there  approved 
would  now  be  called  rank  free  trade. 
The  tariff  of  1 790  averaged  1 1  per  cent ; 
that  of  1791,  13/^  percent.  In  1809, 
the  severest  duty  was  24 J^  per  cent. 
An  investigation  of  all  of  our  revenue 
acts  will  prove  that  it  was  not  until 
the  year  18 16,  immediately  after  the 
close  of  the  war  of  1812,  that  a  sub- 
stantial effort  was  made  in  the  protec- 
tion line  ;  and  yet  the  enactments 
there  adopted,  with  possibly  one  or  two 
exceptions,  were  less  protective  than 
the  Mills  Bill.  Formerly,  whenever 
protection  was  spoken  of  reference  was 
had  to  real  "  infant  industries."  The 
bogus  infantile  creations  of  protective 
Republicanism  had  not  been  developed. 
But  the  policy  of  President  Washing- 
ton, mikl  as  it  was,  did  not  meet  the 
unqualified  acquiescence  of  the  states- 
men of  his  time.     Mr.  Jefferson  with- 


drew from  the  Cabinet,  in  1793,  upon 
the  distinct  ground  that  he  would  not 
be  held  even  indirectly  responsible 
for  the  doctrine  of  Alexander  Ham- 
ilton, as  announced  in  that  statesman's 
report  on  manufactures.  But  even 
Hamilton  did  not  believe  in  never- 
ending  protection.  His  idea,  as  ex- 
pressed in  his  report,  was  that  while 
the  payment  of  bounties  for  the 
encouragement  of  new  industrial 
undertakings  was  advisable,  their 
"continuance  on  manufactures  long 
established  was  most  questionable." 
When  this  Republic  was  younger,  and 
it  was  impossible  to  know,  and  not 
very  easy  to  surmise  the  best  policy  to 
be  adopted,  especially  upon  tariff 
subjects,  views  were  sometimes  ex- 
pressed the  inaccurate  character  of 
which  experience  has  made  apparent. 
I  challenge  the  correctness  of  Mr. 
McDonald's  statement  that  the  policy 
inaugurated  in  1846  checked  indus- 
trial growth,  or  had  any  other  effect 
than  to  promote  national  progress.  In 
the  ten  years  which  elapsed  between 
1850  and  i860,  our  national  wealth 
doubled.  It  has  required  thirty  years 
of  Republican  rule  to  reach  a  similar 
result.  In  1850,  the  per  capita  estimate 
of  wealth  was  $261;  in  i860,  $384; 
while  at  the  end  of  thirty  years  from 
1850,  there  was  an  advance  of  only 
$3.00 — $387.  During  the  ten-year 
period  above  mentioned,  the  appre- 
ciation in  farms  was  ioj4  per  cent. 
During  the  succeeding  twenty  years 
it  was  but  2}4  per  cent.  But  possibly 
Mr.  McDonald  refers  specially  to  man- 
ufactures, in  his  attack  upon  the 
Democratic  tariff.  If  so,  the  facts  do 
not  bear  him  out.  In  1 850,  the  capital 
employed  in  manufactures  was 
5533,000,000  (round  figures).  In 
i860,  the  amount  had  increased  to 
$1,009,000,000.  Thus  it  will  be 
observed  that  the  capital  invested  in 
manufactures  during  that  low-tariff 
decade  almost  doubled  ;  and  the  same 
may  be  said  regarding  the  wages  paid 
and  the  number  of  employes  engaged. 
In  the  succeeding  twenty  years  of 
high  tariff  the  capital  in  maimfactures 


OUR    COMMERCIAL    GROWTH    AND    THE    TARIFF. 


but  little  more  than  doubled  ;  while 
the  commerce  of  our  country,  which, 
as  Mr.  McDonald  says,  since  the  days 
of  the  Phoenicians  "has  been  deemed 
the  measure  of  a  nation's  material 
prosperity,"  really  prospered  from 
1S50  to  i860,  and  has  been,  as  he 
admits,  in  a  sadly  depressed  state 
ever  since.  It  is  true  that  in  1857 
there  was  a  financial  panic,  but  this 
was  due  to  causes  disconnected  with 
tariff  legislation.  That  very  year 
Charles  Sumner,  Hamilton  Fish  and 
Henrj'  Wilson  voted  for  a  reduced 
tariff.  In  the  decade  of  1 850-1 860 
our  exports  increased  135  per  cent. 
In  the  thirty  succeeding  years,  or  to 
1890,  the  increa.se  has  been  only  167 
per  cent.  From  1850  to  i860  the 
amount  exported  much  more  than 
doubled,  and  this  achievement  was 
not  repeated  until  1879.  The  tonnage 
of  United  States  vessels,  in  1850,  was 
3.535.454  ;  i'l  i860,  5,353,868.  Ton- 
nage in  foreign  trade,  in  1850, 
1,439,694;  in  i860,  2,379,396.  In 
1890,  the  tonnage  of  United  States 
vessels  had  fallen  to  4,424,496,  and 
the  foreign  trade  tonnage  to  928,062. 
This  certainly  is  an  appalling  condi- 
tion of  affairs  from  a  business  stand- 
point. 

Our  Republican  friends  blame  the 
war  for  these  consequences.  But  the 
war  is  over.  It  was  concluded  many 
years  ago.  Prominent  business  men 
of  the  present  day  were  born  after  the 
scene  at  Appomattox.  There  never 
was  a  countrj'  better  situated  to  recup- 
erate from  the  effects  of  a  conflict  than 
the  United  States  ;  and  yet  we  find, 
as  Mr.  McDonald  very  truly  tells  us, 
that  now  "six-sevenths  of  our  foreign 
commerce  are  carried  in  foreign  bot- 
toms." We  are  promised  that  the 
McKinley  bill  will  cure  all  this,  but 
the  evil  exists,  and  it  exists  not  only 
in  spite  of  Republican  legislation,  but 
because  of  it.  The  Republican  party 
was  in  power  w^hen  the  Rebellion  ter- 
minated, and  with  the  exception  of 
Mr.  Cleveland's  incumbency  it  has 
held  the  government  ever  since.  Why 
has  it  not  done  something  for  com- 


merce for  lyO  !  these  many  years  ? 
There  is  nothing  backward  or  bashful 
about  the  ordinary  McKinleyitc.  He 
is  prepared  to  claim  everj-thing.  The 
United  States  has  progressed  in  defi- 
ance of  Republican  legislatioti.  The 
corner-stone  of  the  edifice  may  be 
placed  upon  the  oak's  expanding  roots, 
the  tree  will  grow,  and  will  even  shat- 
ter the  unnatural  superstructure  ;  but 
the  imposition  of  the  burden  will  not 
facilitate  healthy  development.  The 
forces  of  nature  will  in  time  prevail, 
without,  however,  accomplishing  per- 
fect or  natural  results.  No  one  will 
deny  that  our  countrv  is  beneficially 
located.  Great  rivers,  grand  lakes, 
numerous  and  splendid  harbors,  rich 
soil,  minerals  of  all  kinds  in  abundance; 
iu  short,  all  things  suggestive  of  com- 
mercial greatness  are  ours.  There  is 
no  inaptitude  upon  the  part  of  our 
people.  It  is  the  fault  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  that  "they  have  not  dis- 
played their  wonted  energy  in  building 
up  export  trade."  It  has  been  possi- 
ble for  other  countries  to  outstrip  us 
and  levy  tribute  upon  us,  to  capture 
our  carrying  trade,  simply  because  of 
pernicious  legislation.  Just  before 
each  session  of  Congress  a  number  of 
wealthy  Republican  manufacturers 
meet  and  arrange  for  a  new  infant 
industry',  whose  continuous  growth 
will  bring  about  individual  aggran- 
dizement as  the  re.?ult  of  general  taxa- 
tion. These  infants  are  to  remain 
forever  unweaned.  They  are  not 
destined  for  death  or  even  maturity. 
Take  the  condition  of  affairs  in  San 
Francisco.  There  are  at  this  time  in 
her  bay  and  at  Port  Costa  a  number 
of  vessels  preparing  to  remove  our 
grain  crop.  It  is  estimated  that  the 
fleet  of  1891-2  will  carry  nearly  $22,- 
000,000  worth  of  wheat,  and  about 
$1,700,000,000  worth  of  flour  ;  the 
total  aggregating  a  freight  capacity  of 
over  438,000  tons,  of  the  value  of 
about  $23,500,000.  The  cost  of  trans- 
porting this  crop  will  be  about  $5,226,- 
000,  or  nearly  25  per  cent,  of  the  total 
worth.  The  bulk  of  this  transporta- 
tion money  goes  into   the  pockets  of 


OUR    COMMERCIAL    GROWTH    AND    THE    TARIFF. 


Englishmen,  whose  tariff  system  our 
Republican  friends  are  daily  criticising, 
but  whose  ability  to  earn  money  by 
means  of  that  tariff  system  is  recognized 
the  world  over.  Mr.  McDonald  refers 
to  the  immense  productive  capacity  of 
our  country,  and  to  the  difficulty 
which  England  experiences  in  con- 
ducting her  affairs,  because  the  bulk 
of  her  exports  consist  of  manufactures 
made  to  a  large  extent  from  imported 
articles.  That  we  have  immense  nat- 
ural advantages  no  one  can  dispute. 
But  it  is  novel  to  claim  that  our  pro- 
lific crops  are  the  result  of  the  McKin- 
ley  bill.  Our  adv^ersaries  will  maintain 
that  favorable  seasons  (good  winters, 
as  we  call  them),  are  produced  by 
Republican  legislation,  and  that  a 
drouth  is  sure  to  result  from  fear  of 
Democratic  supremacy. 

Our  tariff  legislation  is  behind  the 
age.  The  Protectionist  insists  that 
Democracy  is  seekiug  to  bring  the 
country  down  to  the  level  of  England; 
that  we  are  imitators  of  the  British 
free-traders,  etc.  In  the  first  place, 
free  trade  is  not  advocated  by  the 
Democratic  party.  A  tariff  for  revenue 
only,  and  that  means  a  very  large  col- 
lection, is  the  insistence  of  Grover 
Cleveland.  England,  which  is  usually 
called  a  free  trade  country,  raises  one- 
fourth  of  her  revenue  from  her  custom 
houses.  The  actual  receipts  from 
taxes  for  the  year  ending  March  31st, 
1S91,  were  $367,890,000,  of  which 
$97,400,000  were  derived  from  customs 
duties,  excise  or  internal  revenue 
yielding  $123,940,000.  The  United 
States,  on  the  other  hand,  throws  the 
burden  of  taxation  upon  imports  as 
follows  :  Customs  receipts,  fiscal  year 
1891,  $219,522,205  ;  internal  revenue, 
$145,686,250.  For  many  years  prior 
to  1842  the  fiscal  system  of  Great 
Britain  was  rigidly  protective.  The 
number  of  articles  on  the  tariff  list  as 
late  as  1840  exceeded  1,500,  of  which 
more  than  400  were  the  raw  materials 
of  British  manufactures.  There  were 
likewise  export  duties  and  prohibition 
of  exports.  Smuggling  penalties  were 
high,   and  there  was    no  mercy  dis- 


played in  enforcing  the  revenue  laws. 
England  then  had  a  system  of  naviga- 
tion laws  upon  which  our  present 
suicidal  scheme  was  modeled.  What 
was  the  issue  ?  From  18 15,  when  all 
the  great  wars  in  which  she  had  been 
engaged  were  over,  when  she  had  as 
much  influence  over  the  affairs  of  the 
world  as  .she  has  ever  enjoyed,  England 
proceeded  under  a  protective  tariff  pol- 
icy until  1842,  and  during  the  twenty- 
seven  intervening  years  of  comparative 
peace,  her  business  affairs  experienced 
such  stagnation  that  bankruptcy  was 
threatened.  In  1815,  her  exports  of 
manufactures  and  produce  were  ^'5 1 ,  - 
610,480  ;  and  in  1841  the  increase  was 
scarcely  worth  taking  into  account, 
the  amount  being  ^24,143  ($120,715). 
According  to  Mr.  Noble,  whose  work 
upon  English  fiscal  legislation  is  rec- 
ognized authority,  the  effect  of  this 
condition  of  affairs,  the  legitimate  re- 
sult of  the  policy  now  imitated  by  the 
Republican  party,  was  to  close  mills 
and  workshops,  depreciate  property 
values,  paralyze  .shipping  and  drive 
starving  laborers  to  the  poorhouse. 
In  1841,  Sir  Robert  Peel  took  the  first 
step  toward  reducing  import  duties, 
and  by  the  Act  of  1S42  there  was  an 
abatement  of  the  imposition  upon 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  articles.  The 
result  was  at  once  apparent.  A  de- 
ficiency in  the  national  revenue  of 
$12,105,000  in  1S41  was  converted 
into  a  surplus  of  $17,045,000  in  1845. 
The  duties  on  wool,  particularly, 
which  had  been  maintained  for  more 
than  two  hundred  years,  were  wholly 
repealed  in  1844,  and  in  1845  more 
than  four  hundred  articles,  mostly 
raw  materials,  were  added  to  the  free 
list.  British  navigation  laws  of  a 
restrictive  character  were  abrogated 
in  1849,  with  the  exception  of  several 
relating  entirely  to  the  coasting  trade, 
and  these  were  eliminated  from  the 
statute  book  in  1854.  Mr.  Disraeli 
bitterly  opposed  the  repeal  of  the  nav- 
igation laws,  and  declared  with  the 
high  protectionists  who  had  preceded 
him,  and  who  prognosticated  innumer- 
able evils  as  the  result  of  the  acts  of 


OUR    COMMERCIAL    GROWTH    AND    THE    TARIFF. 


the  Peel  Cabinet,  that  the  nation  was 
in  danger.  There  was  great  opposi- 
tion to  any  reduction  of  import  duties. 
But  the  protest  did  not  come  from  the 
poorer  or  middle  classes,  or  from  the 
body  of  the  people.  Mr.  Justin  Mc- 
Carthy, the  present  leader  of  the  Irish 
Home  Rule  Party,  in  his  well-known 
work,  "  History  of  our  own  Times," 
says  :  ' '  The  corn  laws,  as  all  the  world 
now  admits,  were  a  cruel  burden  on 
the  poor  and  the  working  classes  of 
England.  They  who  were  the  un- 
compromising opponents  of  free  trade 
at  that  time  are  proud  to  be  its  uncom- 
promising zealots  now.  Indeed,  there 
is  no  more  chance  for  a  reaction  against 
free  trade  than  there  is  against  the 
rule  of  three."  Says  Mr.  Gladstone: 
"  When  the  free  trade  reform  began, 
trade  increased  to  a  degree  unexampled 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  Periods 
of  distress  have  been  due  to  special 
causes  which  were  beyond  human 
agency  to  deal  with.  Such  times  of 
hardship  have  become  almost,  if  not 
absolutely,  unknown,  owing'  to  the 
blessed  effects  of  free  trade.  The 
country'  has  made  a  great  step  forward 
and  will  not  go  back." 

The  expression  ' '  free  trade  ' '  is  used 
by  these  statesmen  in  a  relative  sense, 
since  England  has  never  ceased  to  col- 
lect a  large  custom  revenue.  Charles 
Sumner,  the  great  Republican  leader, 
wrote  to  Cobden  congratulating  him 
upon  his  fiscal  victories.  He  said  :  "I 
am  happy  in  your  true  success.  You  are 
the  great  volunteer  with  something  in 
your  hand  better  than  a  nmsket.  This 
commercial  treaty  seems  like  a  har- 
binger of  glad  tidings.  Let  that  go 
into  full  operation  and  the  war  system 
must  be  discontinued."  Does  anyone 
believe  that  Charles  Sumner,  holding 
these  views,  would  have  supported 
the  McKinley  bill  ?  He  favored  a 
war  tariff  in  war  ;  he  would  not  have 
favored  a  war  tariff  in  peace.  Mr. 
Garfield  did  not  hesitate  to  publicly 
declare  that  he  favored  that  sort  of 
a  tariff  which  would  ultimately  lead 
to  free  trade.  But  what  was  the  con- 
sequence of  the  repeal  of  the   McKin- 


ley legislation  of  Great  Britain  ?  The 
effect  was  not  only  remarkable  and 
favorable,  but  almost  instantaneous. 
The  aggregate  exports  and  imports  of 
Great  Britain  which  were  ^123,312,- 
000  in  1840  ro.se  to  ^268,210,000  in 
1854;  ^489.903.000  in  1865;  /697,- 
000,000  in  1880;  and  ^748,000,000 
($3,744,715,000)  in  1890.  This  must 
be  admitted  to  be  a  pretty  good  show- 
ing. The  population  of  the  United 
Kingdom,  on  April  5th,  1891,  was 
37,888,153.  The  total  area  in  square 
miles  is  121,481,  more  than  36,000 
square  miles  less  than  the  State  of 
California.  And  with  this  population 
Great  Britain  has  a  commerce  equal  to 
that  of  Austria,  France,  Germany  and 
Italy  combined,  although  the  aggre- 
gate population  of  those  countries  is 
about  160,000,000.  Prior  to  the  re- 
moval of  the  restrictions  on  her  com- 
merce in  1842  the  merchant  marine 
tonnage  of  England  had  been  long 
almost  stationary.  While  it  did  not 
present,  perhaps,  such  a  woeful  condi- 
tion as  that  afforded  by  the  United 
States,  -Still  no  progress  was  observed. 
Between  1842  and  1849  there  was  a 
gain  of  nearly  450,000  tons.  There 
was  a  rise  from  3,485,000  tons  in  1849 
to  4,284,000  tons  in  1S54  ;  4,806,000 
in  1861  ;  5,694,000  in  1871  ;  6,574,000 
in  1880;  and  7, 759,000  in  1890.  It  is 
estimated  that  the  total  toiniage  of  the 
British  merchant  marine  is  now  in 
excess  of  10,000,000.  Before  the  re- 
peal of  her  ridiculous  navigation  laws 
from  which  ours  have  been  practically 
copied.  Great  Britain  was  the  propri- 
etor of  one-third  of  the  shipping  of  the 
world.  To-day  she  ovras  about  two- 
thirds,  and  of  the  steam  tonnage 
about  75  per  cent.  We  are  often  re- 
ferred to  the  extent  of  the  deposits  in 
our  savings-banks  ;  and  Mr.  McDon- 
ald alludes  to  our  seemingly  favorable 
balance  of  trade.  He  does  not  men- 
tion the  trade  balance  in  gold  and 
silver  for  the  last  fifteen  years. 

It  may  be  well  in  this  coiniection  to 
consider  the  relative  condition  of  our 
savings-deposits.  The  natural  advan- 
tages of  the  United  States  are,  as  we 


OUR    COMAIERCIAL    GROWTH    AND    THE    TARIFF. 


all  admit,  remarkable  and  unrivaled. 
Hence,  we  ought  to  make  an 
unequaled  financial  showing.  The 
tax  returns  of  England  prove  that  the 
recipients  of  incomes  of  $5,000  and 
upwards  are  decreasing,  while  the 
increase  in  the  number  of  those  whose 
incomes  are  small  is  far  greater  than 
the  percentage  increase  of  population. 
This,  of  course,  means  more  equality 
in  distribution.  The  tendency  of  the 
United  States  appears  to  be  the  other 
way.  It  has  been  shown  that  between 
25,000  and  30,000  persons  out  of  a 
population  of  more  than  60,000  own 
half  the  wealth  of  this  Republic.  The 
gold  to  which  Mr.  McDonald  refers 
must  have  been  and  must  be  flowing 
into  the  pockets  of  this  exclusive  class. 
In  1S90,  the  deposits  in  our  savings- 
banks  were  $1,438,000,000,  or  in  the 
ratioof  $22.82  per  head.  The  deposits, 
in  1888,  in  the  .savings-banks  and 
provident  institutions  of  England, 
were  estimated  at  $1,075,000,000,  or 
in  the  ratio  of  $28.28  per  head.  One 
among  the  many  effects  of  the  repeal 
in  1S42,  of  the  English  McKinley 
measure,  is  found  in  the  fact  that  there 
was  then  one  able-bodied  pauper  to 
every  38  of  the  population  of  England 
and  Wales.  In  1S90,  the  ratio  was 
one  in  300.  Hence,  there  has  evidently 
been  a  marked  decrease  in  pauperism 
in  England  and  Scotland.  But  if  we 
are  to  believe  the  Census  return  for 
1890,  pauperism  has  increased  in  the 
United  States  ;  and  I  have  the  author- 
ity of  Hon.  David  A.  Wells  for  the 
statement  that  "  there  is  not  a  city  or 
town  in  England  in  which  the  per- 
centage of  returned  pau]ierism  is  as 
large  as  the  City  of  Hartford  in  New 
England."  It  is  somewhat  remark- 
able that,  in  1885  one  person  in  every 
4,100  of  the  population  of  the  British 
Isles  was  a  convict.  In  i8go,  the 
proportion  in  Massachusetts  was  one 
to  every  461  ;  and  we  are  told  that  in 
this  country  many  of  our  criminals 
escape.  While  it  is  true  that  numbers 
of  our  laborers  receive  excellent  wages, 
this  is  not  because  of  protective  legis- 
lation.    They  are  paid  whatever  their 


labor  is  worth  in  the  market.  Labor 
is  not  protected.  The  man  who  is 
running  the  so-called  protected  indus- 
try takes  the  benefits  of  legislation. 
He  pays  his  employe  whatever  the 
market  rate  may  be.  Indeed,  if  it 
were  not  for  labor  organizations,  sup- 
plemented by  the  skill  required  in 
manufacturing  institutions,  those  who 
constitute  the  actual  bone  and  sinew  of 
the  land  would  indeed  be  poorly  com- 
pensated. The  fact  is  that  the  best-paid 
laborers  in  the  United  States  are  not 
in  any  way  connected  with  protection, 
unless  it  be  as  tax  contributors.  But 
if  the  reward  of  toil  has  advanced  in 
tb.is  country,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  jn  England,  since  1842,  wages  of 
all  classes  have  gone  forward  100  per 
cent  ;  and  some  of  our  best  statisticians 
claim  that  of  recent  j^ears  the  advance 
has  been  more  rapid  there  than  in  the 
United  States.  It  might  also  be  noted, 
as  a  circumstance  tending  to  show 
general  prosperity,  that  the  amount 
of  life  insurance  in  Great  Britain  is 
greater  than  in  any  other  couutrs-.  It 
is  no  answer  to  all  this  to  say  :  ' '  Then 
if  you  are  such  an  admirer  of  England, 
why  do  you  not  go  there?"  Ours  is 
the  greatest  of  nations,  notwithstand- 
ing Congressional  blunders.  The 
foregoing  figures  are  not  the  result  of 
any  admiration  for  Great  Britain.  I 
am  merely  stating  facts.  It  is  aggra- 
vating to  a  patriotic  American  to  see 
his  Government  adopting  a  policy 
which  must  retard  the  country's 
growth.  It  is  exasperating  to  find 
that  a  foreign  land,  possessing  no  nat- 
ural advantages  over  us,  and  whose 
people  are  neither  as  skillful  or  per- 
severing as  those  of  the  United  States, 
can  make  such  a  favorable  showing. 
When  we  reflect  that  England  proper 
has  a  population  of  more  than  540  to 
the  square  mile,  and  that  our  people 
number  only  18  to  the  square  mile; 
when  we  look  about  us  and  compre- 
hend all  that  nature  has  done  for  us, 
and  .sec  how  little  we  are  doing  for 
ourselves  in  economic  matters  ;  when 
wc  remember  that  with  all  our  freedom 
and     .'ill     our     intelligence,     we     are 


OUR    COAIMERCIAL    GROWTH    AND    THE    TARIFF. 


43 


diverting  vast  wealth  from  the  pockets 
of  the  masses  into  the  coffers  of 
selected  millionaires,  our  sense  of  duty 
— our  common  sense — must  bid  us 
pause.  That  \vc  are  happier  and 
better  off  than  any  other  people  is 
proof  of  our  great  endurance  and  our 
limitless  resources. 

Says  Mr.  McDonald:  "The  legis- 
lation of  the  fifty-first  Congress  is 
admirably  adapted  to  the  growth  of 
industries  and  commerce.  It  does  not 
impose  unnecessary  burdens  on  the 
people.  *  *  *  Upon  such  commodi- 
ties as  we  can  produce,  the  duties  are 
only  sufiBciently  high  to  make  up  the 
difference  in  the  cost  of  production  in 
this  and  foreign  countries,  which 
difference  is  mostly,  if  not  wholly,  one 
of  wages."  The  McKinley  bill,  as 
I  think  I  have  shown,  is  admirably 
adapted  to  interfere  with  the  growth 
of  our  commerce.  The  assertion  that 
the  tariff  upon  such  commodities  as 
we  can  reasonably  produce  is 
sufficiently  high  to  make  up  the  dif- 
ference in  the  cost  of  production  here 
and  in  foreign  countries,  which  differ- 
ence consists  principally  in  wages,  is  a 
mistake.  The  IMinneapolis  platform 
announces  this  doctrine  ;  but  as  there 
are  many  people  who  fail  to  practice 
what  they  preach,  so  the  Republican 
party  announces  a  rule  in  its  platform 
which  it  has  never  carried  out.  Thus 
the  duty  on  steel  rails  is  fixed  by  the 
McKinley  bill  at  $13.44  P^r  ton.  Mr. 
Carroll  D.  Wright,  U.S.  Commissioner 
of  Labor,  reported  to  the  Senate  on 
August  13,  1890,  (See  Senate  Miscel- 
laneous Documents,  No.  212,)  that 
the  entire  labor  cost  in  this  country  of 
the  production  of  a  ton  of  steel  rails  is 
$11.59;  so  that  if  the  British  manu- 
facturer gets  all  his  labor  for  nothing, 
the  McKinley  bill  gives  Mr.  Carnegie 
and  his  associates  $1.85  per  ton, 
besides  the  cost  of  freight,  insurance, 
commissions,  etc.  But  the  cost  to 
the  British  manufacturer  to  make  the 
same  material,  as  far  as  the  labor  is 
concerned,  is  $7.81  ;  therefore,  the 
labor  cost  of  a  ton  of  steel  rails  in  the 
United  States  is  $3.78  more  than  it  is 


in  Hnglaud.  So,  if  we  accept  the 
Republican  platform  theory,  which 
seems  to  be  adopted  in  the  article 
which  I  am  considering,  the  tariff 
ought  to  be  $3.78  in.stead  of  $i3-44- 
But  taking  into  account  not  only  labor 
cost,  but  all  other  differences,  Com- 
missioner Wright  declares  that  the 
net  cost  in  this  country  is  $24.66  per 
ton,  and  in  England  $iS.6i  per  ton — 
difference,  $6.05  ;  leaving  a  net  tariff 
excess,  over  this  aggregate  difference, 
of  $7-39-  This  is  a  mere  sample  of 
the  insincerity  of  the  tariff  lords,  and 
of  the  inaccuracy  of  those  who  advo- 
cate their  interests. 

Woolen  clothing  must  be  considered 
a  necessary  of  life  ;  yet,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  spirituous  liquors,  it  is  made 
the  principal  source  of  revenue.  One 
dollar  out  of  every  five  in  our  tariff  tax 
is  exacted  from  this  essential.  Of  all 
our  revenue  from  taxation,  more  than 
one-ninth  is  drawn  from  taxes  upon 
wool  and  woolen  goods.  It  is  estimated 
that  $4 1, 000, 000  of  taxes  are  gathered 
upon  an  importation  of  $60,000,000 
worth  of  wool  and  woolens.  In  1891, 
there  were  some  $338,000,000  worth  of 
woolen  goods  made  in  this  country, 
which  were  protected  by  a  duty  under 
the  McKinley  bill  exceeding  $80.00  on 
the  $100.00  w-orth ;  and  yet  wool- 
growing  is  not  profitable.  We  have 
not  sufficient  raw  material  in  this 
country  to  supply  our  wants.  We 
cannot  get  what  we  need  without 
paying  extravagant  duties.  We  must 
buy  foreign-made  articles,  or  purchase 
them  from  those  who  have  secured  the 
enactmeutof  the  McKinley  bill.  And 
somehow  it  happens  that  the  legisla- 
tion of  the  fifty-first  Congress  has  not 
made  the  wool-growers  happy.  As  to 
the  assertion  that  raisins,  oranges,  etc. , 
can  be  raised  at  a  profit,  because  of 
Republican  legislation,  it  may  well  be 
doubted  whether  much  benefit  is 
derived  from  the  tariff  thus  imposed. 
But  in  any  event,  as  the  Democratic 
platform  demands  a  tariff  for  revenue 
only,  and  as  these  articles  must  be 
considered  luxuries,  a  high  duty  will 
be  imposed  upon  imports  of  that  class. 


OUR    COMMERCIAL    GROWTH    AND    THE    TARIFF. 


Although  Mr.  McKinley  placed  au 
additional  half  cent  on  imported  rai- 
.sins,  yet  the  market  price  of  the  article 
has  actually  fallen.  Probably  this 
may  be  cited  as  au  instauce  of  the 
beneficial  effect  of  protection.  When 
a  protected  article  becomes  cheaper, 
our  Republican  brethren  declare  that 
its  cheapness  is  due  to  protection. 
When  it  is  high,  they  declare,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  protection  causes  the 
high  price.  It  will  not  be  claimed,  I 
imagine,  that  the  object  of  the  tariff 
on  raisins  is  to  reduce  their  value.  As 
illustrating  the  McKinley  method  of 
establishing  industries.  Republicans 
are  fond  of  declaring  that  all  our  tin- 
ware will  soon  be  manufactured  in  the 
United  States  on  account  of  the 
enormous  duty  imposed  upon  tinplate, 
and  that  the  pearl-button  business  will 
rapidljf  attain  large  proportions. 

What  is  meant  bj'  establishing  or 
creating  an  industrj^  ?  It  is  certain 
that  the  industry  has  not  heretofore 
existed,  because  the  market  price  of 
its  product  would  not  justify  its  main- 
tenance. But  why  do  such  industries 
exist  now?  Manifestly  for  the  reason 
that  the  law  has  increased  the  market 
price  of  their  product  by  taxing  the 
consumer.  This  may  be  beneficial  to 
the  handful  engaged  in  the  enterprise, 
but  it  is  onerous  to  the  people  at  large 
who  are  involuntarily  supporting  a 
class  of  persons  who  have  no  more 
claim  upon  the  nation  than  those  who 
raise  wheat  or  corn  or  potatoes.  The 
tin  iniquity  is  familiar  to  all.  Every 
man  who  has  constructed  the  smallest 
tin  roof,  since  the  McKinley  bill  went 
into  effect,  can  see  the  point.  He 
knows  that  he  pays  more  for  his  roof, 
and  he  knows  that  as  a  consumer  he 
pays  the  tax.  A  verj'  prominent 
merchant  in  New  York,  whose  estab- 
lishment is  at  476  Broadway,  made 
the  following  statement  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  Ways  and  Means  of  the 
present  House,  regarding  the  differ- 
ence in  rates  between  the  McKinley  bill 
and  the  Act  of  March  3,  1S83,  as  re- 
gards imported  pearl-buttons :  The 
foreign  value  of  a  given  package  in 


1883  was  $322.00  ;  duty  25  per  cent — 
$80.50.  In  1890  the  dutj'  amounted 
to  $1009.25.  Another  imported  pack- 
age of  the  same  article  in  value 
amounted  to  $2,871,  and  the  duty  in 
1883  was  $717.75.  The  duty  alone 
on  the  same  package  in  1S90  was 
$5,020.89.  Now,  when  the  store- 
keeper on  Broad waj^  sells  these  buttons 
to  the  public,  he  does  not  sell  them 
at  a  loss.  Hence  his  patrons  con- 
tribute this  enormous  sum  for  the 
benefit  of  a  few  gentlemen  who  have 
started  a  pearl-button  establishment  in 
Detroit.  And  still  it  is  said  that  the 
McKinley  bill  ' '  does  not  impo.se  un- 
necessary burdens  upon  the  people." 
I  might  multiply  instances  by  the  page 
and  by  the  hour,  but  limited  space 
forbids. 

Republican  protectionists  assume  to 
be  very  friendly  to  the  American 
farmer,  and  declare  that  an  additional 
tariff  has  been  laid  upon  wheat  for  his 
benefit.  But  what  advantage  does  the 
farmer  derive  from  this  additional 
tariff?  Are  not  the  wheat  fleet  and  the 
flour  fleet  to  which  I  have  directed 
attention,  preparing  to  sail  to  Liver- 
pool ?  And  does  not  the  American 
farmer  there  meet  the  almost  slave 
labor  of  India,  and  the  miserably  paid 
Russian  ?  And  are  not  the  prices 
which  he  there  receives,  regulated  by 
the  English  demand  and  supply? 
The  farmer  pays  tariff  on  everything 
he  uses,  but  he  makes  no  profit  by 
the  legislation.  There  is  nothing  in 
it  for  him.  If  a  San  Diego  rancher 
goes  into  Mexico  and  buys  a  mustang 
worth  $30.00  there,  he  must  pa>-  $30.00 
in  order  to  bring  his  horse  home.  Thus 
he  finds  himself  possessed  of  a  $60.00 
animal,  which  across  the  line  is  worth 
$30.00.  The  farmers  through  the 
countrj'  have  been  sold  so  often  by  the 
Republican  party  that  they  are  pro- 
testing vigorously.  If  the  wheat  fleet 
already  adverted  to  might  go  to  Liver- 
pool bearing  the  product  of  our  soil 
(which  grows  not  because  of  the 
McKinley  bill,)  there  to  receive  in 
exchange  the  commodities  which  are 
needed  at  home,  the   materials  which 


OUR    COMMERCIAL    GROWTH    AND    THE    TARIFF. 


45 


farmers  consume  and  require,  and 
which  are  now  practically  barred  out 
bj'  law,  would  not  the  agriculturalist 
be  benefited  thereby  ? 

Here  may  be  illustrated  the  delu- 
sive character  of  the  balance  of  trade 
argument  iu  which  protectionists  in- 
dulge. 

Let  us  assume  that  Califoniia's 
wheat  crop  is  worth  $23,000,000  in 
Liverpool,  and  that  its  owners  instead 
of  getting  gold  for  it  make  a  wise  bar- 
gain with  their  English  customers  and 
take  and  bring  home  in  exchange 
English  goods  worth  $25,000,000. 
Here,  evidently,  the  balance  of  trade 
appearing  against  us  is  $2,000,000,  and 
yet  that  sum  represents  gain  resulting 
from  barter  in  excess  of  the  gold  value 
of  the  article  sold. 

The  assertion  made  by  Mr.  McDon- 
ald to  the  effect  that  reciprocity  is 
reducing  our  trade  losses  with  South 
America  is  strongly  coufirmatorj'  of 
the  position  which  I  have  taken.  The 
Republican  party  never  thought  of 
reciprocity  until  Mr.  Blaine  stamped 
it  on  the  McKinley  bill  and  declared 
that  the  time  had  come  when  the 
American  producer  must  get  some 
benefit.  Reciprocity  merely  gives  us 
a  taste  of  the  benefits  of  freer  trade. 
We  oppose  the  reciprocity  features  of 
the  McKinley  bill,  among  the  reasons, 
because  it  is  there  sought  to  vest  in 
the  President  dangerous  powers,  and 
because  the  retaliator>'  spirit  of  the 
enactment  is  unworthy  of  the  age.  If 
some  of  the  unfortunate  Republics 
south  of  us  are  compelled,  in  conse- 
quence of  their  requirements  or  iu- 
providence,  to  make  bread  higher  and 
scarcer  to  their  people,  then  we  will 
make  leather  and  sugar  higher  to  our 
people.  Against  such  conduct  Wash- 
ington warned  us  in  his  farewell  ad- 
dress. He  said  :  ' '  Harmony  and  a 
liberal  intercourse  with  all  nations  are 
recommended  by  policy,  humanity  and 
interest.  But  even  our  commercial 
policy  should  hold  an  equal  and  impar- 
tial hand  ;  neither  seeking  nor  grant- 
ing exclusive  favors  or  preferences ; 
consulting  the  natural  course  of  things; 


diffusing  and  diversifying  by  gentle 
means  the  streams  of  commerce,  but 
forcing  nothing." 

Reciprocity,  however,  is  valuable 
as  demonstracing  the  benefits  which 
would  follow  more  generous  legisla- 
tion. Belgium,  containing  about  the 
population  of  the  Empire  State,  and 
smaller  in  area,  shows  imports  and 
exports  amounting  annually  to  $582,- 
000,000.  It  is  true  that  Au.stria, 
Bulgaria,  Italy,  Portugal,  Rouniania 
and  Servia  do  not  surpass  the  United 
States  in  the  proportion  of  commerce 
to  population.  But  we  must  not,  be- 
cause we  are  doing  better  than  Servia, 
become  vain  or  boastful.  The  Repub- 
lican idea  seems  to  be  to  avoid  trading 
with  populous  and  rich  nations.  In 
1891,  the  United  Kingdom  imported 
4,838,991  quarters  of  wheat  from  the 
United  States  ;  verj'  nearly  2,000,000 
quarters  in  excess  of  that  derived  from 
Russia,  and  more  than  2,000,000 
quarters  above  the  importation  from 
India.  One  of  the  most  iniquitous 
results  of  the  Republican  protective 
policy  is  found  iu  the  circumstance 
that  our  manufacturers  sell  many  of 
the  articles  made  by  them  in  this 
country'  to  foreigners  far  cheaper  than 
thej'  do  to  the  tax-ridden  American. 
IMr.  Farquhar,  who  is  one  of  the 
wealthiest  and  most  successful  manu- 
facturers of  agricultural  implements  in 
the  United  States,  frankly  admits  this, 
but  nevertheless  declares  that  he  pre- 
fers a  modification  of  the  tariff",  as  the 
free  importation  of  raw  materials  would 
enable  him  to  compete  with  British 
manufacturers  anywhere.  He  says 
that  he  sells  manufactured  articles  to 
consumers  in  South  America  and  Mex- 
ico from  ten  to  twenty-five  per  cent, 
cheaper  than  to  his  United  States 
patrons. 

The  Ann  Arbor  Agricultural  Im- 
plement Company,  through  its  adver- 
tisements in  the  Spanish  edition  of  the 
American  Jllail,  offers  standard  agri- 
cultural implements  at  enormously 
reduced  rates  to  Spanish  consumers. 
A  few  of  the  relative  prices  are  here 
given. 


4b 


OUR    COMMERCIAL    GROWTH    AND    THE    TARIFF. 


1  rice.  Price. 

Advance  Plow, $9.co  :S.oo 

Advance  Plow, 4.C0  S.oo 

Hay  Tt.Kl.  r, SO.oo  45.00 

Mow'.  1                                        ....        40.00  65.00 

Cinn:v  \.,.  3        60.00  90.00 

Ann  .\:  ..         2S.00  40.00 

Clipper  Cutler, 9,50  18.00 

I,ever  Cutter, 4.25  S.oo 

Cultivator 22.00  30.00 

S\s  eep, 60.00  90.00 

Nearlj'  all  the  large  coiiceru.s  iu  the 
countrjr  pre.sent  .similar  record.s.  And 
Mr.  Gcori^e  Drajjcr,  a  prominent 
Massachusetts  iiianufacturer,  so  con- 
cedes in  a  pamphlet  recentl_v  issued  liy 
the  ' '  American  Protective  Tariff 
League." 

California  Republicans  have  not 
always  held  the  views  which  many  of 
them  now  profess.  In  1891,  the 
Legislature  of  this  State,  which  was 
largeh'  Republican,  pas.sed  a  joint 
resolution  requesting  the  removal  of 
the  tariff  (truly  called  in  the  resolution 
a  tax)  upon  grain-bags,  burlaps, 
gunneys  and  gunney-cloth.  (Statutes 
of  1891,  page  525).  But  the  Republi- 
cans in  Congress  heeded  not  the 
appeal. 


The  Democrats  made  an  effort  in 
the  last  Congress  to  procure  the 
removal  of  the  duty  upon  binding 
twine,  l)ut  failed  by  rea.son  of  Repub- 
lican ojiiHisition.  President  Jackson 
tnil\-  said  laud  he  never  did  anything 
at  tlie  battle  of  New  Orleans,  or  else- 
where, to  indicate  that  he  was  very 
fond  pf  England )  :  ' '  The  corporations 
and  wealthy  individuals,  who  are 
engaged  in  large  manufacturing 
estal)li.shments,  desire  a  high  tariff  tt) 
increa.se  their  gains.  Designing  pol- 
iticians will  support  it  to  conciliate 
their  favor,  and  to  obtain  the  means  of 
a  profuse  expenditure  for  the  purpo.se 
of  purcha.sing  influence  in  other 
quarters.  *  *  *  Do  not  allow 
yourselves,  my  fellow-citizens,  to  be 
misled  on  this  subject.  The  Federal 
(iovernment  cannot  collect  a  .surplus 
fcir  such  jnirpo.ses  without  violating 
Iheiirincipks  of  the  Con.stitution.  and 
assuiiiiiig  ])nwers  which  have  not  been 
granted.  It  is,  moreover,  a  .sy.stem 
of  injustice,  and  if  persisted  in,  will, 
inevitably,  lead  to  corruption,  and 
must  end  in  ruin." 

Republican  protection  is  a  fraud. 


CHAPTKR    VIII. 

LESSONS  OF   THE   LATE    ELECTION. 


SHOWN  in  the  elections 
of  1.SS4  and  1SS8,  the 
strength  of  the  two  great 
parties  in  the  electoral 
college  was  more  nearl}' 
equal  than  since  i860,  ex- 
cept in  1876.  Hence  both  parties 
entered  into  the  late  contest  with 
hope  and  expectation  of  success. 
As  the  country  was  fairly  prosper- 
ous, new  industries  had  sprung  up, 
and  our  foreign  commerce  disclosed 
a  larger  balance  of  trade  in  our  favor 
than  ever  before  in  our  history, 
{nW  of  which  was  due  in  no  small 
measure   to  the  policies  inaugurated 


and  pursued  by  the  incumbent  admin- 
istration) the  Republicans  at  first 
were  more  sanguine  of  victory  than 
their  opponents.  It  is  not  unusual 
for  adherents  to  a  defeated  party, 
especially  when  chances  were  so 
favorable,  and  the  reasons  why  it 
should  be  sustained  were  ,so  cogent,  to 
inquire  how  the  result  came  about. 
Since  the  election  the  Republicans  all 
over  the  country  have  been  seeking 
information  as  to  the  causes  of  de- 
feat, and  as  is  not  unusual  a  variety 
of  conclusions  have  been  reached. 
We  are  now  so  far  removed  from  the 
contest,  and  the  smoke  and  mists  of 


48 


LESSONS    OF    THE    LATE    ELECTION. 


battle  have  so  fully  (li-appLaiviI  that 
we  can  examine  di^lla--'^l(lIlat^_l\  ami 
decide  iutelligenth-.  An  Lxainniaticin 
would  be  without  benefit  except  to 
satisfy  curiosity,  unless  we  seek  to 
profit  from  the  lessons  taught  by  the 
election  and  its  results. 

One  fact  .stands  out  proniincntly 
and  agreeably.  It  is  that  the  cam- 
paign was  exceptionally  free  from 
scandal,  personality,  and  ungracious 
criticism  of  methods  and  details  of 
administration.  Both  candidates  had 
served  the  country  in  the  Presidential 
office,  and  had  given  the  people  honest 
government.  It  was  eminently  a 
decent  campaign,  reflecting  credit 
upon  popular  institutions,  and  one 
that  has  contributed  to  improvement 
of  political  morals.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  it  is  a  precedent  that  will  be 
followed  in  all  future  time. 

It  was  somewhat  peculiar,  too, 
that  no  commanding  strategic  point 
was  presented  witli  reference  tn  -wiiieli 
the  t\V"  ,;;rr:il  ]«.lilieal  armies  were 
manenveieil,  allhoii;_;li  nominally  iheie 
was  falivicated  sharp  issues  upon 
economic,  financial  and  commercial 
policies.  The  armies  actually  fought 
in  detachments  and  without  any  gen- 
eral plan.  During  the  campaign 
several  prominent  leaders  on  both 
sides  gave  their  views  in  magazine 
articles  as  to  the  controlling  or  most 
important  issue.  vSome  said  it  was 
the    monev    unestion  ;   others    that    it 


■sti 


IS    t. 


was  tile  lai 
that  it  was  , 
itation  of  federal  power  or  of  economy 
in  expenditures.  In  each  section  of 
the  country  the  leaders  directed  their 
efforts  to  the  point  which  seemed  to 
them  to  be  the  most  salient,  or  on 
which  the  public  mind  could  be  most 
easily  swayed. 

In  their  speeches  on  the  stiuiip. 
Senator  Hill  and  others  laid  most 
stre.ss  upon  the  Force  Bill.  It  was 
an  issue  manufactured  out  of  the 
declaration  in  the  Republican  plat- 
form in  favor  of  free  and  fair  elec- 
tions, and  coupling  with  it  the  bill 
passed    by  the   House  oi  Represcnta- 


ti\-es  in  the  Fifty-first  Congress,  the 
deelaralion  was  distorted  into  a  pur- 
jiose  to  enact  a  law  that  would  give 
the  general  government  control  of 
electoral  and  congressional  elections 
in  the  South.  This  charge  probably 
had  no  influence  in  the  North,  but  it 
tended  strongly  to  perpetuate  Demo- 
cratic solidity  in  the  South.  It  was 
done  to  prevent  the  People's  Party 
making  inroads  in  that  .section,  and 
it  was  effecti^•e  in  achieving  that  end. 
Negro  domination  is  a  "  raw-head  and 
bloody-bones  ' '  to  the  Southern  people, 
and  it  is  not  easy  to  make  them  be- 
lieve that  any  other  than  the  Demo- 
cratic ixirty  would  not  introduce  it. 

Deniuiciatiou  of  silver  coinage  by 
Senator  Sherman  and  Governor 
McKinley  alienated  those  Republicans 
from  their  party  who  entertained  free- 
silver  coinage  views.  There  is  a 
feeling  in  the  country  that  there  is 
not  money  enough  to  accommodate 
the  wants  of  business,  and  that  silver 
eoinai;e  is  a  way  to  supply  the  defi- 
ciene\-,  and  one  that  should  be 
adopted.  The  Republicans  in  the 
East  attacked  the  plank  in  the  Demo- 
cratic platform  which  declared  for  a 
repeal  of  the  ten  per  cent,  internal 
revenue  tax  on  state  bank  issues,  and 
portrayed  the  horrors  of  a  return  to  a 
"wildcat"  currency,  but  it  had  little 
effect,  being  looked  upon  as  a  mere 
spook ;  the  business  men  of  the 
country  did  not  believe  Mr.  Cleveland 
or  any  other  Democratic  President 
would  dare  assent  to  such  a  measure 
in  the  face  of  the  satisfaction  that  pre- 
vails with  the  existing  sound,  uniform, 
and  everywhere  circulable  currencv. 
That  plank  was  evidently  put  into 
the  platform  as  a  gimcrack  to  .satisfy 
the  States'  rights  .sentiments  of  the 
South,  and  as  a  sop  to  the  clamorous 
for  more  money  in  the  South  and 
West.  On  the  silver  question  there 
was  no  appreciable  difference  in  the 
platforms  ofthe  two  parties,  and  it  was 
understood  that  the  candidates  for  the 
presidencv  entertained  the  same  or 
similar  views.  Tl'.e  hardest  fight 
against  free-silver  coinage  in  the  first 


LESSONS    OF    THE    LATE    ELECTION. 


49 


session  of  the  present  Congress  was 
made  bj^  Democrats  in  the  House  of 
Representatives. 

There  were  local  issues,  notably  in 
Illinois  and  Wisconsin,  which  had  a 
material  influence  upon  the  general 
election.  Activities  aroused  by  liope 
of  securing  crumbs  of  patronage  are 
always  greater  in  the  party  out  of 
power  than  in  that  in  possession  of 
the  government.  This  contributed  to 
no  small  extent  to  Democratic  suc- 
cess. The  Republican  party  being  in 
power  was  held  responsible  for  the 
want  of  a  sufficient  volume  of  money, 
and  for  every  ill,  real  or  imaginary  ; 
and  it  is  easier  to  produce  defection 
from  the  ranks  of  the  party  in  power 
than  from  that  which  is  out.  Again 
there  is  an  inexplicable  feeling  that  a 
change  of  administration  will  produce 
changes  for  the  better.  It  is  inexpli- 
cable, becau.se  it  has  been  .so  often 
tried  without  resulting  in  improve- 
ment. 

In  the  campaign  the  tariff  issue 
was  not  presented  as  sharpl}-  as  in 
the  platform  of  the  parties.  The  ex- 
treme free-trade  j)Osition  taken  in  the 
Democratic  platform  was  verj'  little 
defended;  in  fact,  it  was  substantially 
ignored  by  the  party  leaders  in  the 
North.  Many  newspapers  and  .stump- 
ers made  efforts  to  razee  the  sharp 
edge.  Editorials  and  speeches  were 
filled  with  modificatory  explanation. 
The  interpretations  given  by  Senator 
Hill  of  New  York,  Mr.  White  of  this 
State,  and  numerous  others  made  the 
Damocratic  position  tolerably  good 
protective  doctrine,  or,  .sp2aking  more 
accurately,  the  positions  assumed  in 
manj-  instances  were  outside  of  and 
inconsistent  with  the  Democratic 
platform,  if  its  language  is  given  a 
literal  meaning.  Mr.  Cleveland  .spat 
upon  the  tariff  plank  of  his  party's 
platform  with  a  boldness  almost  equal 
to  that  of  Horace  Greely  in  .spitting 
upon  the  Whig  platform  of  1848.  In 
his  letter  of  acceptance  he  expre.s.sed 
views  clearly  inconsistent  with  those 
amiunciated  in  his  message  to  Con- 
gress in  December  1887,  and  with  his 


.iltilnik-  lluoughout  the  campaign  of 
i.sss.  Ill  the  late  election  the  coun- 
try did  not  express  it.self  distinctly 
upon  the  tariff  issue  as  raised  by  the 
two  platforms,  while  the  Democratic 
new.spapers  and  orators,  modified, 
explained  away,  and  befogged  as  to 
their  party's  position,  misrepresented 
that  held  by  the  Republicans.  The 
Republican  platform  declared  fur  a 
principle,  and  not  for  a  particular 
measure  ;  the  principle  was  clearly 
stated  when  the  McKinley  Bill  was 
pending  in  Congress,  and  notably  by 
Mr.  Sherman,  who,  while  he  indorsed 
the  principle,  said  that  .some  of  the 
duties  might  be  too  high  or  too  low. 
In  adjusting  duties  when  there  are 
multifarious  and  conflicting  interests 
as  in  this  country,  no  man  or  .set  of 
men  can  satisfy  all  classes,  or  do  ab.so- 
lute  ju.stice  to  all  interests.  The  issue 
of  protection  or  no  protection  to 
American  industries  and  labor  was 
artfully  evaded  by  the  Democratic 
new.spapers  and  orators;  and  in  addi- 
tion thej-  treated  the  McKinley  law 
as  if  it  were  indorsed  in  whole  and  in 
detail  bj'  the  Republican  party,  and 
as  if  it  were  to  remain  as  unchange- 
able as  the  laws  of  the  Medes  and 
Persians,  when  it  was  openly  an- 
nounced that  there  might  be  excres- 
cences and  inequalities  that  should  l)e 
removed.  It  was  not  advocacy  of  the 
protective  principle  that  brought 
about  defeat  to  the  Republican  Party. 
The  Democrats  did  not  accept  the  issue 
pure  and  simple  at  the  hustings,  and 
the  boldness  of  Mr.  Cleveland  in  tak- 
ing position  not  in  conformity  to  party 
platform  tended  immensely  to  satisfy 
the  business  men  of  the  country. 

No  public  man  of  this  day  in  the 
nation  is  freer  from  machine  politics 
or  bossism  than  President  Harrison, 
and  we  have  had  no  administration 
since  that  of  Monroe  which  manifested 
less  partisan  .spirit,  or  more  thor- 
oughly ignored  political  bo.s.ses  than 
his.  Nearly  all  the  men  in  his  party 
known  as  manipulators  and  bos.ses 
were  opposed  to  his  renomination. 
Unfortunately      there     were      federal 


50 


LESSONS    OF    THE    LATE    ELECTION. 


officiaLs,  notably  in  the  South,  who 
exerted  themselves  for  it.  In  that 
section  it  is  impossible  for  the  Repub- 
licans to  gain  a  single  electoral  vote. 
It  was  repeatedly  alleged  before  the 
country,  and  was  openly  charged  in 
the  Minneapolis  Convention  that  a 
large  number  of  federal  officials  were 
delegates,  and  that  the  Convention 
had  been  packed  and  was  being  manip- 
ulated by  the  "federal  brigade." 
There  was  just  enough  truth  in  these 
charges  to  create  an  effect  upon  the 
country,  and  Mr.  Harrison  entered 
the  campaign  handicapped  by  them. 
For  many  3'ears  the  .sentiment  has 
been  growing  that  no  President,  how- 
ever excellent  his  administration, 
should  be  re-elected  to  succeed  him- 
self. It  sprang  from  the  abusive  use 
of  patronage  in  the  past  to  achieve 
party  or  pensonal  success,  and  this 
.sentiment  has  become  no  incniisic'xr- 
able  factor  in  our  ]>ijlilics.  The 
American  peojile  have  hccoine  jealmi^ 
of  official  ink-iirrencc  in  pdlilical  man- 
agement, si)  much  sn  that  a  trnthl'ul 
charge  that  nnmiiiatinn>  ha\u  Ijeen 
made  tlin.u-h  .iflicial  intlutauv  is  most 
Iruslful  ti.  pait\-  or  candidates'  success. 
The  nomination  of  Mr.  Harrison  under 
the  circumstances  rendered  it  distaste- 
ful to  a  class  of  con.siderable  numeri- 
cal .strength. 

On  the  other  hand,  circumstances 
placed  Mr.  Cleveland's  position  in  a 
conspicuous  light.  He  was  nominated 
by  the  Chicago  Convention  in  .spite  of 
the  machine  and  bosses  in  his  vState. 
Hill's  machine  and  the  Tamman>- 
tiger  were  assaulted  and  overwhelmed. 
The  heroism  of  the  act  challenged  the 
admiration  of  the  country.  It  showed 
a  reliance  upon  the  masses  whicli 
demanded  fitting  recognition  on  their 
part.  Tammany  had  no  alternative 
but  to  .support  him  ;  it  had  been  beaten 
in  the  open  field  and  outside  its  citadel, 
and  if  it  became  recalcitrant,  it  was  in 
danger  of  being  assailed  and  throttled 
within.  Nothing  contributed  so  much 
to  Democratic  success  as  the  attitude 
in  which  Mr.  Cleveland  was  placed 
by   the  circumstances  of  his    nomina- 


tion. He  was  aided  besides  by  the 
boldness  with  which  he  ignored  the 
extreme  free-trade  doctrines  of  the 
South.  The  Democrats  of  that  section 
were  in  no  better  position  to  be  recal- 
citrant than  was  Tammany. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
Homestead  .strike  had  a  damaging 
infli.-ence  upon  the  fortunes  of  the 
Republican  party.  That  it  was  .so 
is  illogical.  Mr.  Carnegie  is  a  Repub- 
lican and  has  made  an  immense  for- 
tune in  manufacturing.  Though  the 
McKinle>-  law  reduced  the  duties  upon 
such  articles  as  the  Homestead  Mills 
fabricate,  still  the  employees  felt  that 
Carnegie's  capital  was  increasing  too 
rapidly  and  they  were  recei\'ing  too 
little  for  their  labor.  The  Democi-atic 
charge  that  protective  duties  did  not 
protect  labor  had  some  appearance  of 
truth  when  Carnegie's  wealth  and  the 
comparative  poverty  of  the  employees 
were  contrasted.  They  did  not  stop 
to  consider  that  the  law  cannot  pre- 
sc'ihe  the  wages  that  .shall  be  paid,  or 
the  prices  at  which  raw  materials 
shall  be  purcha.sed,  or  manufactures 
.sold,  and  that  they  are  matters  that 
must  be  arranged  between  employee 
and  employer  and  between  buyer  and 
.seller.  The  employees  evidently  be- 
lieved that  the  "robber  tariff" — the 
' '  infamous  McKinley  law  ' '  —  I'obbed 
consumers  and  laborers  for  the  sole 
benefit  of  capital.  There  was  an  aggra- 
vating element  that  entered  into  the 
affair  which  had  an  exasperating  effect, 
and  that  was  the  employment  of  a  body 
of  Pinkertons  to  aid  in  enforcing  the 
lockout.  It  had  been  the  practice  to 
employ  them  as  a  .sort  of  private 
standing  army  to  overawe  and  to  do 
the  fighting  for  capitalists.  vSuch  an 
insliinlion  as  the  Pinkertons  operate 
is  offensive  to  the  American  people 
and  obnoxious  to  the  genius  of  our 
institutions.  It  is  the  general  idea 
that  the  local  authorities  and  people 
should  be  relied  on  to  preserve  the 
peace  and  enforce  the  laws.  It  is  net 
mercenary  to  respond  to  a  call  of  a 
sheriff  or  other  executive  officer  to  aid 
him     in    protecting     the     comnuinily 


LESSONS    OF    THE    LATE    ELECTION. 


against  violence  and  disorckr.  While 
the  Republicans  were  not  in  the 
least  responsible  for  what  was  dune, 
the  afF.-.ir  was  irritating,  and  some- 
body had  to  sufier  for  it.  That  the 
Republican  Party  was  selected  as  the 
object  upon  which  vengeance  was  to 
be  wreaked  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
while  in  the  rural  districts  it  held  its 
own,  it  lost  heavily  in  the  large  man- 
ufacturing centers. 

It  cannot  fairlj-  be  said  that  any 
material  question  was  distinctly 
passed  upon,  but  it  is  pretty  clear 
that  the  people  have  set  the  seal  of 
their  condemnation  on  machine  and 
boss  supremacy.  This  is  evident,  for 
turn  whichever  waj'  we  may  in  this 
State  and  elsewhere,  in  general  and 
local  politicsthe  machine  has  been  nier- 
cilesslj-  disregarded  and  sat  down  upon . 

It  is  a  lesson  of  great  value  to  those 
who  aspire  to  public  favor  and  to 
leaders  who  desire  party  .success. 
There  is  a  growing  determination  on 
the  part  of  the  masses  to  have  their 
own  way  and  it  is  best  they  should, 
for  it  will  give  us  better  laws  and 
purer  administration.  To  get  rid  of  the 
machine  and  self-constituted  bosses 
is  to  be  relieved  from  corrupting  in- 
fluences and  every  phase  of  bad  poli- 
tics. The  a.spirants  to  public  positions 
had  better  take  cognizance  of  the  fact 
that  the  people  want  good  govern- 
ment and  mean  to  have  it.  I-et  us 
hope  that  in  future  the  only  mad  to 
political  success  will  be  tht-  highway 
of  honesty,  intelligence  and  faithful 
service  to  the  country. 

Another  conspicuous  fact  is  that  no 
party,  whatever  may  be  its  attitude 
on  material  questions  can  pre\-ail 
against  the  Democratic  Party  in  the 
South.  The  Republican  Party  tried 
coercion  and  conciliation  to  secure  to 
the  negroes  the  e.xercise  of  the  politi- 
cal rights  conferred  and  guaranteed  b\- 
the  Con.stitutiou  with  the  same  result. 
The  Democratic  politicians  there  and 
in  the  North  understand  the  strength 
of  vSouthem  unity  and  the  weakness 
of  that  .section  when  divided.  In 
1890,   .several  Farmers'  Alliance  men 


were  chosen  to  Congress  and  numer- 
ous Democrats  were  comiKdled  to 
concede  the  demands  of  the  Alliance 
to  gain  their  .seats.  In  the  late  elec- 
tion, no  People's  Part}'  candidate  has 
been  elected  to  Congress,  and  the  fond 
hopes  of  the  leaders  of  that  party  have 
been  dashed  to  the  ground  so  far  as 
that  section  is  concerned.  It  carried 
Northern  States,  but  there  was  no 
reciprocation  in  the  South.  The 
Ocala  platform  which  declared  for 
loaning  money  bj-  government  on 
cotton  and  other  agricultural  products 
was  a  Southern  conception  and  was 
supposed  to  be  a  popular  mea.sure  in 
that  section,  but  it  was  subordinated 
to  the  negro  question.  The  People's 
Party  took  high  ground  on  that  sub- 
ject and  hence  failed  signally  to  break 
into  the  ranks  of  the  Democracy.  A 
lesson  taught  by  the  election  is  that 
the  People's  Party,  .so  long  as  it 
favors  manhood  suffrage  and  equality 
before  the  law  will  be  regarded  in  the 
South  as  essentially  a  sectional  party 
as  the  Republican. 

Another  lesson  taught  is  that  the 
progressive  spirit  of  the  country 
should  not  escape  observation,  and 
that  there  .should  be  no  failure  in  rec- 
ognizing it.  New  conditions  and 
new  wants  are  constantly  arising,  and 
a  political  party  that  does  not  make  a 
study  of  them  and  put  forth  efforts  to 
employ  adaptable  measures  cannot  be 
successful.  The  want  for  a  larger 
volume  of  money  should  be  .supplied 
by  the  Government  through  measures 
well  considered  and  generous,  giving 
to  it  the  elements  of  soundness  and. 
sufficienc}-.  The  people  are  aroused 
to  the  prevalence  of  monopoh",  and  a 
party  that  wishes  both  to  XH-omote  the 
common  welfare  and  to  gain  .success, 
will  hereafter  be  compelled  to  inquire 
how  far  government  .should  go  to 
remove  special  privileges,  and  to  exer- 
cise power  to  that  end  to  the  fullest 
legitimate  extent.  It  is  an  important 
lesson  of  the  late  election  that  party 
trammels  are  not  as  binding  as  for- 
merly, as  the  people  are  more  inclined 
to    follow   the   dictates   of  conviction 


52 


LESSONS    OF    THE    LATE    ELECTION. 


than  to  obey  the  compulsion  of  llie 
party  whip.  Advocacy  of  just  and 
practicable  measures,  clean  methods 
in  politics,  honest  and  vigorous  admin- 
istration are  the  only  agencies  through 
which   popular  attachment    to   partj^ 


organization  can  be  secured  and 
maintained.  The  best  and  .smartest 
politics  is  to  give  the  people  the  wisest 
and  most  efficient  government.  Any 
other  theory  is  beneath  the  respect  of 
the  true  patriot. 


CIIAl'TUR    IX, 


BALLOT   REFORM. 


AGITATION  of  this  question  lias 
reached  almost  overshadowin.i;- 
proportious.  The  evils  of  a 
great  variety  of  election  frauds  ha\e 
existed  in  many  parts  of  this  country 
for  a  long  series  of  j-ears,  and  as  is 
natural,  they  have  grown  in  propor- 
tion to  their  toleration.  As  a  rule, 
they  have  more  lart;\l\-  ]iv(.\aik-cl  in 
the  large  cities,  but  lrr(|iKiitl\'  tliL->- 
have  appeared  in  smaller  towns  and 
occasionally  in  the  rural  districts. 

The  first  fraud  that  attracted 
national  attention  was  committed  in 
Loui.siana  in  1844.  To  be  a  voter  in 
that  State  at  that  time,  it  was  neces- 
sary that  a  man  should  be  the  owner 
of  real  estate.  A  political  manager 
purchased  a  tract  of  land  near  the 
Gulf,  called  swamp  land,  which  was 
totally  uninhabitable.  He  laid  out  a 
town,  divided  the  tract  into  .small  lots 
and  conveyed  them  to  hundreds  of 
men  in  New  Orleans,  who,  after  they 
had  voted  in  that  cit}',  were  sent  to 
the  Parish  of  Plaquemine  where  they 
again  voted,  showing  their  deeds  to 
prove  they  were  real  estate  owners. 
In  this  way  that  State  which  was 
Whig,  was  carried  for  James  K.  Polk. 

The  Plaquemine  fraud  became  his- 
torical. 

The  next  fraud  which  attained 
national  notoriety  was  committed  in 
the  city  of  New  York  in  1868.  In 
some  of  the  wards  of  that  chy  the 
votes  cast  outnumbered  the  whole 
population.  Through  this  fraud 
Hoffman  became  Governor  of  the 
State,  and  its  electoral  vote  was 
cast  for  Seymour  for  President.  These 
successful  frauds  gave  impetus  to  sim- 
ilar practices  in  many  parts  of  the 
nation.  They  became  numerous  all 
over  the  South,  and  alarmingly  prev- 
alent in  several  of  the  large  cities. 
Not  only  were  voters  bribed,  repeaters 


employed,  ballots  miscounted,  ballot- 
boxes  stuffed,  and  returns  forged  cr 
falsified,  but  intimidation  and  violence 
Ix-canie  common,  especially  in  the 
South.  The  fact  that  all  the.se  acts 
were  committed  is  not  the  worst  of  it. 
The  perpetrators  were  rewarded  by 
the  beneficiaries  of  these  crimes,  and 
not  infrecinently  lionized.  There  were 
those  \\'lioas])ired  to  notoriety  through 
these  proceedings,  and  thought  them- 
selves heroes  if  they  could  be  spoken 
of  and  pointed  out  as  those  who  had 
carried  elections.  We  have  heard  of 
men  who  held  the  votes  of  a  cit>-,  and 
even  of  a  State  in  their  pockets.  Such 
men  prided  tliem.selves  upon  being 
bosses.  It  is  a  very  apt  and  suggestive 
designation.  A  boss  is  not  one  who 
persuades,  but  one  who  coerces — one 
who  drives  a  gang  whose  bidding  is 
obeyed.  The  boss  is  never  potential 
where  elections  are  honest,  but  he 
achieves  his  greatest  power  where 
corruption  and  crime  are  least  ob- 
.structed  by  popular  antagonism. 

Efforts  in  behalf  of  ballot  reform  at 
the  present  time  are  mainly  directed  to 
so  surrounding  the  ballot-bo.x  that 
there  can  be  no  bribery,  no  stuffing  of 
boxes  or  mi.scounting  of  ballots,  no 
forgery  or  falsification  of  returns. 
The  brains  of  the  reformers  are  racked 
to  devi.se  ways  for  protecting  the 
voters  again.st  the  influence  of  the 
perpetrators  of  election  crimes.  Such 
efforts  are  well  enough,  indeed  they 
are  useful  and  produce  good  results, 
because  they  tend  to  make  the  com- 
mission of  crime  more  difficult  and 
detection  more  certain.  It  is  interest- 
ing and  instructive  to  study  the  evo- 
lution that  has  taken  place  in  legis- 
lation for  the  government  of  elections. 
At  first  the  laws  were  very  simple, 
and  few  acts  were  denounced  as  crimes 
or  misdemeanors  against  the  ballot, 


54 


BALLOT    REFORM. 


aud  the  penalties  imposed  were  of  a 
comparatively  mild  character.  Our 
grandfathers  were  unable  to  conceive 
that  anj'  free  American  citizen,  en- 
dowed with  the  power  of  the  ballot  to 
preserve  his  liberty  aud  promote  the 
common  welfare  in  which  his  own  was 
involved,  would  think  of  destroying  or 
impairing  the  potency  of  suffrage  bj' 
any  crime  or  irregularity.  They  sup- 
posed the  right  of  suffrage  would  jje 
regarded  as  the  mo.st  precious  of  all 
rights  and  would  be  treated  as  a  holy 
thing,  and  for  a  time  they  were  not 
mistaken.  The  election  defrauder  in 
tho.se  daj'S  was  quite  unknown,  and 
when  a  Judas  did  apin--ar,  he  had  no 
escape  frompuMic  (ip]ir(il)rium  excej)t 
in  going  out  and  liaii^^iuL;  hini^L-lf  It 
was  not  necessary  llial  llic  la\\s  .shuuld 
be  complicated,  coinpixliLiisivc  and 
.severe.  As  mi.sconduct  made  its  ajtpear- 
ance,  inhibitorj'  and  penal  laws  were 
enacted,  statutes  were  enlarged  to 
meet  contingenciLsthal  were  pnibalile, 
aud  their  pnil.alnlily  .^rew  with  the 
loss  of  regard  in  Iheniiiulsof  individ- 
uals and  the  public  for  the  sacredness 
of  the  right  of  suffrage.  The  legisla- 
tive reform  of  the  ballot  has  gone  on 
until  our  election  statutes  have  Ijecome 
the  most  conspicuous  of  an\-  relating 
to  public  olfeiises.  Xo  statute  has  yet 
been  so  in^ieuiously  constructed,  or  .so 
severe  in  penalties,  that  it  has  not  Ijeen 
.SUCCissfully  e\aded  or  defied,  and  all 
have  been  quite  as  often  boldly  defied 
as  cunningly  evaded.  The  race  be- 
tween legislators  and  rascals,  the  one 
to  circumvent  election  crimes  and  the 
other  to  devi.se  schemes  to  avoid  the 
law  has  been  an  interesting  one.  The 
genius  of  the  legislator  has  not  as  yet 
surpa.ssed  the  skill  of  the  election 
ra.scal.  Each  statute  that  has  been 
enacted  has  been  deemed  amplj-  com- 
prehensive to  prevent  every  possible 
election  crime,  but  all  have  proved 
inadequate. 

The  Australian  law  is  now  supposed 
to  be  a  product  of  human  wi.sdom  that 
will  .secure  honest  elections  beyond  a 
]x-radventure.  The  ballot  reformers 
are  bending  their  efforts  to  .secure  its 


adoption  in  all  the  states.  It  is  a  law 
of  many  merits  aud  may  be  justly 
regarded  as  the  best  that  has  ever  been 
devi.sed.  It  probably  will  prevent 
bribery,  as  the  bribers  will  not  dare 
trust  the  voters  to  carry  out  their 
bargains,  and  it  prevents  intimidation 
immediately  at  the  polls.  The  timid 
is  shielded  from  assault,  because  it  is 
suppo.sed  that  no  one  knows  how  he 
votes.  There  are  safeguards  against 
Ijallot-liox  stuffing.  The  law  is  not 
stronger  than  some  other  laws  against 
fal.se  counting  and  falsifying  returns  ; 
nor  is  it  ab.solute  proof  agaiu.st  repeat- 
ing, though  it  is  more  perfect  in  that 
respect  than  any  of  its  predecessors. 
But  as  perfect  as  it  is,  it  affords  no 
protection  against  intimidation  or  vio- 
lence away  from  the  polls,  and  it  must 
not  be  assumed  that  it  will  not  be 
evaded  or  defied.  Election  crimes  are 
more  frequently  committed,  or  con- 
nived at,  by  election  officers.  No  law 
can  nuike  men  honest,  and  it  cainiot  be 
salll)  presumed  that  none  btit  honest 
men  will  be  chosen  to  conduct  elections. 
The  illiterate  can  be  assisted  in  stamp- 
ing their  tickets,  aud  as  they  cannot 
read,  they  must  rely  on  their  assistants. 
It  may,  and  probably  will  be  the  case 
that  tho.se  dispo.sed  to  defraud  in  elec- 
tions, will  fasten  upon  these  aids  to  the 
illiterate  to  have  their  foul  work  done. 
It  need  not  be  surprising  if  it  should 
transpire  that  this  law  will  be  evaded 
or  defied. 

The  question  will  be  asked,  can  any 
law  be  made  that  will  put  a  stop  to 
election  crimes  ?  Every  criminal  stat- 
ute that  has  ever  been  enacted  has 
been  violated  :  none  has  ever  totally 
suppressed  crime  at  which  it  was 
aimed.  Then  is  there  no  complete 
remedy  ?  There  is  none  that  the  law 
alone  can  supply.  The  efficiency  of  a 
statute  is  not  in  its  language  or  in  its 
.saiiction.s — all  depends  upon  its  admin- 
istration. It  is  a  great  gain  to  have 
public  .sentiment  .so  developed  as  to 
•secure  the  enactment  of  comprehensive 
aud  stringent  laws,  but  efforts  should 
not  stop  there.  They  uuist  extend  to 
their  faithful  enforcement.    The  duties 


BALLOT    Ri:PORM. 


of  the  good  citizen  never  end.  It  is 
not  enough  that  the  political  rascal  is 
punished  ;  he  must  be  boycotted  so- 
cially, and  regarded  and  treated  as  a 
social  outcast.  The  really  good  citi- 
zen will  not  be  disgusted  and  not  go 
to  the  polls,  or  otherwise  refuse  or 
neglect  to  perform  his  political  duties, 
because  crimes  and  frauds  are  com- 
mitted by  bad  men.  In  such  cases 
there  is  the  greater  necessit}'  for  vigi- 
lant and  vigorous  action.  The  mere 
theorist  reformer  will  never  revolution- 
ize conditions  ;  that  can  only  be  accom- 
plished by  putting  theory  into  practical 
and  successful  operation.  To  tie  the 
hands  of  ra.scals  by  legislation  is  good 
so  far  as  it  goes,  but  no  law  is  auto- 
matically executory. 

There  are  and  alwa3-s  have  been 
classes  who  advocate  limitation  of 
the  right  of  suffrage  as  a  ])anacea  for 
election  crimes.  One  class  would 
have  a  property,  and  another  an 
educational  qualification.  These  lim- 
itations are  inconsistent  with  the 
fundamental  idea  of  popular  govern- 
ment, and  the  tendency  is  to  enlarge 
rather  than  to  restrict — to  enfranchise- 
ment rather  than  disfranchisement. 
Limitation  of  suffrage  is  the  very 
es.sence  of  class  government.  It  is 
the  rule  in  monarchies  and  aristocracies 
and  the  results  have  never  been  bene- 
ficial to  the  masses.  If  popular  gov- 
ernment ever  advances  beyond  the 
experimental  period,  it  will  be  under 
ths  influence  of  the  broadest  suffrage. 
If  it  fails  as  the  best  means  of  promot- 
ing the  general  welfare,  or  proves  less 
beneficial  than  some  other  form,  the 
institution  of  a  class  government  will 
not  only  be  tolerated  but  cheerfully 
accepted.  The  property  qualification 
existed  in  this  country  for  a  consider- 
able period  after  the  constitution  was 
adopted,  but  it  had  to  give  way  to 
the  conviction  of  its  impropriety  under 
our  sj-stem.  Dr.  Franklin  put  the 
cases  of  two  men,  one  of  whom  could 
vote  because  he  was  the  possessor  of  a 
jackass,  while  the  other  was  deprived 
of  the  right  C(f  suffrage  because  he  did 
not  own  such  an  animal.     "The  ques- 


tion," he  said,  "was  whether  the 
right  of  voting  belonged  to  the  man  or 
the  jackass."  Men  with  or  without 
property  must  obey  the  laws  relating 
to  business  or  regulation  of  the  .social 
relations  ;  the  onlj-  difference  between 
them  is  that  one  pays  taxes  and  the 
other  does  not — one  is  interested  in 
having  a  good  government  as  much 
as  the  other.  The  non-possessor  of 
property  should  have  the  right  of 
ballot  to  protect  him.self  against  the 
power  of  the  property  owner.  To 
restrict  the  right  of  ballot  ou  this  basis 
is  not  ballot  reform. 

There  is  more  reason,  however, 
for  imposing  the  educational  qualifi- 
cation, as  participation  in  public 
affairs  i.s  intellectual  rather  than 
physical.  The  theory  .seems  rea.son- 
able,  but  the  difficulty  in  prescribing 
the  line  of  demarcation  renders  the 
application  of  the  theory  impracti- 
cable. Scholarship  is  no  proof  of 
good  judgment  or  honest  purpose. 
Election  frauds  and  crimes  are  not 
committed  by  the  luilettered,  but  by 
the  intelligent  rascals.  The  ignorant 
are  not  more  easily  bribed  than  the 
learned.  They  may  be  deceived.  It 
would  be  qtiite  as  well  to  base  suffrage 
limitation  upon  moral  qualification  if 
it  could  be  done!  but  it  cannot  be, 
nor  can  any  just  rule  be  inscribed  on 
the  .subject  of  intelligence.  Tiie  way 
is  to  let  suffrage  be  as  little  restricted 
as  po.ssible,  and  tru.st  to  time,  toler- 
ance and  education,  for  they  are  forces 
that  will  ultimately  remove  the  evils 
that  result  from  errors  of  judgment  or 
defects  of  understanding.  The  advice 
of  honest,  intelligent  men  will  be 
taken  by  the  ignorant  sooner  than 
that  of  the  tmprincipled  and  unintelli- 
gent. If  the  former  class  will  be  as 
active  and  earnest  as  the  latter  there 
will  be  immensely  less  e\il  resulting 
from  the  illiteracy  that  pre\ails  in 
this  covnitry. 

Ballot  reform  is  agitated  more  es- 
pecially to  prevent  frauds  in  manipu- 
lating ballot  Ijoxes  and  returns.  There 
is  comparatively  little  .said  of  the 
wholesale  deprivation   of  the  right  of 


BALLOT    REFORM. 


sutirage  by  force  or  iulimidation. 
The  man  whose  vote  is  not  counted, 
is  cheated  out  of  the  exercise  of  his 
rightful  power  in  shaping  the  policies 
of  governnicnt  :  if  it  is  counted  for 
the  opposite  side  he  is  doubly  wronged. 
The  same  is  true  in  ca.se  of  forgery  or 
falsification  of  returns.  All  these  are 
no  worse,  or  not  as  bad  even  as  the 
use  of  violence,  or  intimidation  to 
deter  men  from  voting.  Force  and 
intimidation  have  frequently  been 
resorted  to  to  prevent  large  classes 
from  voting  on  the  ground  of  preju- 


dice against  race,  religion  or  nation- 
ality, and  sometimes  to  promote 
partizan  or  per.sonal  success.  The 
con.sequeuces  of  preventing  the  exer- 
cise of  the  right  of  ballot  b}-  any 
unlawful  means  may  be  of  a  most 
fearful  character.  If  one  class  is 
thus  deprived,  it  constitutes  a  pre- 
cedent for  dejiriving  another.  True 
ballot  reform  includes  not  alone  the 
prevention  of  too  much  voting  or 
counting,  but  also  enforcement  of  the 
exerci.se  of  the  right  in  behalf  of  all 
who  are  entitled. 


CIIAl'TKR  X. 


THE  DANGER  TO  THE  RETUBLIC. 


">R()M  tlK-  L-arlicst  \K-yun\  of 
.'h  \vu  lia\'(.'  ;ui_\'  kiiow- 
dge,  men  have  indulged 
in  philosophizing  on  the 
■iuhject  of  government.  The 
L-ITort  has  been  to  discover  a 
s\  stem  that  would  produce 
the  highest  degree  of  public  hap- 
piness. Plato,  Aristotle,  and  others 
gave  their  thoughts  to  devising  such  a 
system,  and  Sir  Thomas  Moore,  in  his 
"  Utopia,"  developed  one,  as  he 
thought,  of  the  most  perfect  character. 
Theoretical  government  is  one  thing, 
but  practical  government  is  quite  an- 
other. Theory,  however,  is  necessarily 
antecedent  to  experiment.  In  this 
field  evolution  has  in  reality  been  con- 
stantly taking  place,  though  at  times 
there  have  been  appearances  of  retro- 
gression. History  demonstrates  that 
in  government  there  can  be  no  stand- 
still ;  that  there  must  be  advancement 
or  retrogression,  in  accordance  with  a 
law  of  nature.  There  are  elements 
which  prevent  carrying  theory  into 
perfect  practice.  No  machinery  is 
more  subject  to  accidents,  and  unseen 
and  fluctuating  influences  than  that  of 
government.  When  a  people  pos.sess 
the  necessary  degree  of  intelligence 
and  virtue,  it  is  not  difficult  to  render 
theory  and  practice  completely  har- 
monious. Philosophers  have  been  the 
fathers  of  the  ideal  popular  govern- 
ments, and  their  conceptions  have  pre- 
ceded every  attempt  to  overturn  mon- 
archy and  found  popular  institution. 
The  French  revolution  of  a  century 
ago  was  brought  about  more  by  writ- 
ings of  philosophers,  encyclopedists 
and  litterateurs  than  by  the  abuses  of 
the  PVench  Monarchy,  though  for  two 
centuries  there  had  been  no  States 
General,  and  the  government  had  been 
a    practical    absolution.     Xo   French- 


man did  more  to  develop  new  and 
Ijetter  ideas  of  governmenl  in  the 
minds  of  his  countrymen  than  Mon- 
tesquieu. Up  to  that  time  there  never 
had  been  a  Republican  governmenl  of 
a  high  order,  according  to  the  Ameri- 
can idea,  but  there  had  been  sufficient 
experience  to  di.sclose  what  a  republic 
might  become  when  a  high  order  of  gen- 
eral intelligence  and  virtue  prevailed. 
When  Montesquieu  wrote,  he  had  not 
the  example  of  the  American  Republic 
before  him,  but  only  the  light  that 
ancient,  and  a  few  small  spasmodic  re- 
publics in  modern  times  supplied  him. 
The  experiences  of  republics  had, 
however,  demonstrated  the  correctness 
of  the  principle  I  have  stated,  that  in 
government  there  is  inevitably  ad- 
vancement or  retrogression,  audit  has 
been  further  demonstrated  in  .subse- 
quent history.  It  is  certain  that  gov- 
ernments become  bad  through  vicious 
activity.  The  first  French  Republic 
failed  from  the  latter  cau.se,  and  the 
.same  has  been  true  of  many  other 
governments,  but  a  greater  number  of 
nations  have  decayed  through  inertia. 
People  have  often  lost  their  liberties 
and  their  manhood  through  contiiuied 
supineness.  The  perpetuity  of  a  re- 
public depends  upon  avoidance  of  both 
extremes.  The  time  will  never  come 
when  there  cannot  be  change  for  the 
better.  The  founders  of  our  govern- 
ment thought  they  had  devised  a  per- 
fect system,  but  within  about  eighty 
years  from  the  time  the  Constitution 
was  adopted,  it  was  amended  in  fifteen 
important  particulars,  and  many  other 
amendments  have  been  suggested  and 
urged  by  intelligent  people.  The 
American  mind  is  active,  and  it  is  not 
improbable  that  changes  may  be  pro- 
]iosed  that  would,  if  adojited,  prove 
imiMaclicable    or    vicious,  but    we   are 


58 


THE  DANGER  TO  THE  REPURLIC. 


less  liable  to  injury  from  change  that 
is  not  reform,  than  from  evil  practices 
that  grow  up  through  general  indiffer- 
ence and  inattention. 

Corruption  is  the  bane  of  republics. 
The  friends  of  popular  government 
throughout  the  world  have  been  more 
alarmed  al .out  the  (.fleet  of  the  Panama 
scandal  upon  Uic  fortunes  of  the  pres- 
ent French  Republic,  than  about  the 
plots  of  legitimists,  imperialists,  and 
Boulangists  to  overturn  it.  The 
French  people  have,  for  twenty  years, 
been  able  to  withstand  the  efforts  of 
these  enemies,  but  the  question  has 
been  anxiou.sly  put:  can  the  govern- 
ment survive  the  demoralization  and 
disgust  that  will  ensue  from  the  dis- 
closure of  the  corruption  of  numerous 
high  Republican  officials  ? 

Montesquieu  held  that  a  despotic 
monarchy  is  not  so  bad  as  a  corrupt 
republic.  This  opinion  does  not  rest 
upon  theory  merely  :  it  is  sustained  by 
the  world's  experience  in  every  n,c;-e  of 
wliieh  we  hn\e  antheiuie  ln\tor\  ,  Cor- 
ruption isllieworvtronii  Mr,,,,|,re.sii,n, 
for  it  l^  not  only  inipoveri>hin,L;  to  a 
people  Init  it  lead's  to -eneial  demoral- 
ization and  criminality,  to  the  sidjver- 
sion  of  all  authority  and  to  anarchism. 
Despotism  maj-  crush,  but  corruption 
debases  the  spirits  of  a  people.  If  long 
tolerated,  corruption  of  officials  and 
leaders  will  extend  to  and  involve  the 
body  of  the  people,  and  there  is  no  relief 
from  its  malign  infltience<,  except  in 
revolution  and  1.1h„1^]k.1,  .M..iiarchy 
has  .succeeded  re]  'uM  le.s  1  ,eea  u^e  tlie  lat- 
ter have  become  eorriipi,  and  the  former 
has  been  accepted  as  the  Ics.ser  evil. 
The  same  author  thought  that  ex- 
pen.ses  in  a  republic  should  be  less  than 
under  any  other  form  of  government, 
and  for  the  reason  that  the  people  who 
pay  the  taxes  can  control  expenditures 
if  they  will.  A  corrupt  government 
is  never  economical ;  it  is  an  impo.ssi- 
bility  that  it  should  he  so.  An  honest 
government  may,  in  certain  respects, 
indulge  in  profu.se  expenditures,  but 
this  tendency  is  easily  checked.  The 
burdens  which  bear  most  heavily  upon 
any  people,  as  a  rule,  are  tho.se  which 


are  imposed  through  corruption.  It 
is  not  alone  that  people  may  have 
freedom  of  action  that  makes  popular 
institutions  desirable ;  but  also  that 
life  and  property  shall  be  protected, 
and  the  public  interests  promoted  at 
the  lea.st  cost  consistent  with  efficiency. 

Montesquieu  again  says  that  "  the 
tyranny  of  a  prince  does  not  bring  him 
nearer  to  ruin  than  indifference  to  the 
public  good  brings  a  republic."  The 
government  of  a  monarchy  or  aristoc- 
racy reflects  the  character  of  the  king 
or  ruling  class,  but  that  of  a  republic 
is  the  mirror  which  reflects  the  char- 
acter of  a  people.  A  popular  govern- 
ment is  precisely  what  the  people  make 
it,  and  no  such  government  will  be 
good,  to  which  the  people  are  indiffer- 
ent. It  cannot  be  said  that  any  people 
are  capable  of  successful  .self-govern- 
ment, until  they  have  been  tried. 
Americans  believe  they  have  the  best 
government  on  earth,  and  they  are 
correct  in  this  belief;  but  if  they  are  .so 
satisfied  with  it  that  they  see  no  need  for 
reform  or  improvement, there  isdanger. 
Because  we  have  a  better  government 
than  other  nations,  it  does  not  prove 
that  it  is  as  good  as  it  might  be  made. 

In  a  republic,  officials  recognize 
their  responsibility  to  the  people,  while 
their  conduct  in  office  is  indicative  of 
what  they  believe  the  people  will  tol- 
erate, or  what  the  people  demand  of 
them.  This  may  be  taken  as  a  gen- 
eral rule,  though  there  are  exceptions, 
for  it  has  occurred  that  men  have  been 
cho.sen  to  office  who  have  disregarded 
the  wi.shes  and  interests  of  their  Con- 
stituents. The  same  thing  will  occur  in 
future,  but  the  frequency  of  such 
instances  depends  upon  what  the 
peopleexact,  and  the  punishment  they 
inflict  for  dereliction.  One  thing  is 
certain,  that  a  rascal  will  neglect  duty, 
and  become  corrupt,  if  he  believes  the 
public  will  not  thereby  be  .seriou.sly 
offended.  As  has  been  .said,  the  char- 
acter of  a  government  reflects  the 
character  of  the  people  for  intelligence 
and  virtue,  and  where  corruption  pre- 
vails for  any  length  of  lime  there  nuist 
be  .some  defect   in  the  people — tliere 


THE    DANGER    TO    THE    Ri;iH'HI.I(; 


must  be  a  lack  of  iiitellij;ence  or  virtue, 
or  an  indifference  to  the  public  welfare, 
which  of  itself  indicates  a  want  of 
virtue.  In  Spanish  American  coun- 
tries there  are  governments  popular  in 
form,  but  they  are  defective,  more 
especially  in  manner  of  execution. 
There  is  lawlessness,  profligacy  and  cor- 
ruption becau.se  the  governments  have 
no  regard  for  the  people,  and, 
on  the  other  hand  the  people  have 
no  respect  for  the  officials.  There  are 
repeated  revolutionsintho.se  countries 
without  being  productive  of  improve- 
ment. Unstable  conditions  there  are 
but  reflexes  of  the  popular  character. 
The  few  only  are  intelligent,  and  the 
corruption  of  officials  has  demoralized 
the  ma.sses. 

In  this  country  there  is  greater  in- 
telligence, and  the  people  are  more 
generally  virtuous  than  in  any  other. 
Thus  far  there  has  been  general  pro- 
gress in  regard  to  institutions  of  gov- 
ernment. The  nation  has  at  all  times 
been  full  of  reforms  ;  there  is  a  con- 
stant clamor  for  reform,  and  measures 
are  often  urged  which  are  impracticable 
or  without  value.  While  we  have  men 
of  extreme  views,  tho.se  that  are  erratic, 
still  there  is  a  conservation  in  the 
masses  that  preserves  the  coinitry  from 
engaging  in  extravagant  movements. 
There  is  not  the  radicali.sm  that  would 
overturn  all  because  a  part  is  bad.  Ac- 
tion has  generally  been  .so  discriminat- 
ing as  to  remove  the  evil  and  l)uild  upon 
that  which  is  good.  The  American 
people  mo\e no  fa.ster  than  is  required 
to  gain  the  light  that  assures  to  them 
a  tolerably  safe  footing.  As  they  the- 
orize and  rea.son  carefully  and  accur- 
atel.\-  they  .seldom  resort  to  experiment 
to  test  the  virtues  of  measures,  and 
consequently  it  is  not  often  necessary 
to  retrace  steps  that  have  been  taken. 
With  all  their  intelligence  and  vir- 
tue, there  is  a  defect  that  has  been 
productive  of  every  evil  in  government 
from  which  the  country  has  suffered, 
and  that  is  the  proneness  to  be  inatten- 
tive to  public  affairs,  to  public  duty. 
There  always  will  be  persons  who  seek 
to    promote    private    interests   at    the 


expense  of  the  pul)lic.  and  Constitu- 
tions and  laws  will  be  framed  for  that 
purpose  ;  there  are  trea.sury  vampires 
who.seek  toliveon  publicexpenditnres, 
and  corporations  or  individuals  who 
want  special  privileges.  Every  success 
they  have  met  with  in  the  past  has  been 
through  inattention  on  the  part  of  the 
masses,  and  those  officials  who  have 
disregarded  or  sacrificed  the  public 
welfare  have  relied  on  the  inattention 
of  the  people.  "  When  the  wicked 
rule,  the  people  mourn."  But  there 
need  be  no  occasion  for  popular  mourn- 
ing in  this  country  except  from  the 
con.sequences  of  sins  of  omi.s.sion  on 
the  part  of  the  people  themselves. 

The  greatest  pre.sent  grievance  is 
the  burden  of  taxation.  It  is  greater 
in  some  localities  than  in  others,  and 
where  the  burden  is  least,  the  people 
have  been  mo.st  attentive  to  public 
affairs,  and  where  it  is  greatest,  they 
have  been  most  neglectful.  Where 
the  most  expensive  governments  are 
found,  investigation  will  show  alarm- 
ing corruption.  It  is  enigmatical  that 
men  will  neglect  public  matters  when 
their  own  personal  interests  are  in- 
volved. The  man  most  luilettered 
cannot  but  l)e  aware  that  there  are  those 
who  devote  themselves  to  making  gain 
at  the  public  expense.  Extraordinary 
expenses  grow  out  of  the  very  machin- 
ery of  government.  This  is  the  ca.se 
in  California.  The  .system  is  complex 
and  cumbrous, and  needssimplification. 
Corruption  in  the  State,  county  and 
municipal  governments  may  be  exag- 
gerated, but  if  it  prevails  to  the  extent 
that  is  charged,  it  cannot  be  more 
depletorj'  of  the  public  trea.sures  than 
the  official  superfluity,  or  the  compli- 
cated machinery  of  government  that 
exists.  The  people  have  themselves  to 
blame  for  all  the  tinnece.s.sar)'  burdens 
they  bear,  whether  impo.sed  by  corrupt 
practices  or  an  expensi\e  system. 

Montesquieu  wrote  a  half  a  century* 
before  our  system  of  government  had 
been  founded,  and  upon  the  theory 
that  a  republican  form  of  government 
would  be  as  direct  and  simple  as  that 
of  monarchy.   Upon  this  theory  he  was 


THE  DANGER  TO  THE  REPUBLIC. 


correct  in  his  idea  that  in  a  republic, 
government  should  be  less  expensive 
than  in  monarch}-.  Leaving  out  the 
expenditures  to  maintain  a  great  stand- 
ing army,  our  government  is  the  most 
expensive  in  the  world,  because  it  is 
most  extensive  in  all  its  phases.  We 
have  the  national, the  State,  the  count3^ 
the  municipal,  and  in  some  of  the 
States,  the  town.ship  government,  and 
which  act  in  diiferent  spheres  and  to  an 
extent  independently  of  each  other. 
The  idea  is  that  concentration  is  a 
danger,  and  to  avoid  it  there  must  be 
checks  and  balances  ;  otherwise 
despotism  will  follow.  To  carry  out 
this  American  theory,  it  is  necessary 
that  the  system  sliould  be  complex, 
that  officials  should  be  immerous, 
and  taxation  comparatively  oner- 
ous. With  all  these  loads  upon 
them,  it  is  the  more  essential  that 
the  people  should  be  watchful  of 
the  conduct  of  officials,  that  expendi- 
tures may  be  kei^t  within  due  bounds, 
and  especially  that  cnnii]iti()n  should 
be  made  odious.  riiiKC(.»ar>-  expendi- 
tures mu.st  be  avoided  in  every  prac- 
tical)le  way,  not  alone  to  lighten 
burdens,  but  because  extravagance 
begets  corruption. 

To  curtail  the  public  expenses  is  but 
to  simplify  and  improve  the  machinery 
of  government.  Public  officials  should 
be  amply  compensated  for  their  ser- 
vices, and  appropriations  for  public 
improvements,  for  education  and  char- 
ities sliduld  not  be  niggardly  ;  but  not 
a  cent  shmilil  he  appropriated  for  which 
the  public  do  not  get  an  equivalent  in 
benefits.  If  the  people  will  but  give 
the  same  intelligent  attention  to  public 
as  thej-  do  to  their  private  business, 
the  government  will  speedily  become 
as  perfect  as  human  j  udgment  can  make 
it.  If  they  are  neglectful  they  may 
expect  that  the  ruin  which  is  often 
visited  upon  a  despotic  prince  will  fall 
upon  the  Republic. 

The  early  philo.sophers  reasoned 
upon  the  theory  that  a  .self-gov^erning 
people  would  not  1)e  dishonest,  and 
would  not  permit  di.shonesty  in  matters 
of  government.     They  knew  that  men 


are  often  guilty  of  practices  that  do 
not  square  with  morals  in  dealing  with 
each  other,  but  that  they  would  act 
perfidiously  against  their  own  individ- 
ual interests,  they  seem  not  to  have 
conceived. 

It  was  known  by  the  later  philoso- 
phers that  the  Roman  people  were 
hoodwinked  and  debauched  by  aspir- 
ants to  consular,  tribunitial,  and  other 
important  offices  through  the  exhibi- 
tion of  games,  gladiatorial  .shows,  and 
the  distribution  of  large.s.ses,  but  gen- 
eral intelligence  of  a  high  order  did 
not  then  prevail.  If  they  could  have 
conceived  a  people  like  those  of  this 
country,  where  there  are  schools  and 
churches  in  which  the  principles  of 
morality  and  responsibility  to  a  single 
and  perfect  Deity  are  taught,  they 
would  have  .supposed  that  inattention 
to  pul)lic  affairs  and  the  prevalence  of 
official  profligacy  and  corruption  could 
not  exist. 

Montesquieu  knew  there  had  been 
vile  practices  and  corruption  in  repub- 
lics, liut  he  could  not  have  imagined 
how  free  and  independent  citizens 
could  become  .so  deba.sed  as  to  buy  or 
sell  votes,  or  commit  any  other  act 
that  would  prevent  a  fair  expression  of 
the  popular  will.  Traffic  in  votes  and 
all  frauds  in  elections  are  the  legitimate 
out-growths  of  official  corruption.  No 
honest  man  will  pay  money  for  an 
office  simply  for  the  honor  it  confers, 
for  an  office  thus  acquired  is  not  an 
honor.  Whoever  does  it  thinks  he 
can  make  the  office  profitable  through 
some  illegitimate  practice,  and  to  get 
his  money  back,  he  must  do  that 
which  is  robbery  of  the  public.  The 
men  who  .sell  their  votes  and  are  paid 
to  stuff  ballot-boxes  and  falsify  returns, 
conjure  up  a  .sort  of  defense  for  them- 
-selves  on  the  ground  that  the  benefici- 
aries in  the  end  will  receive  a  quid  pro 
quo  for  the  money  they  expend. 

If  an  end  can  be  put  to  official  cor- 
ruption, profligacy  and  irregularity, 
criminal  and  all  improper  election 
methods  will  cease  at  once.  Whether 
this  consununation  shall  be  realized  in 
a  free  government  depends  upon  the 


IHE     DANGliR    TO    THi;     U\l 


action  of  the  people  themselves.  To 
bring  it  about  they  need  but  give  uii- 
reiuitting  attention  to  their  public 
duties.  F'ailure  in  this  on  Ihcir  pari 
has    produced    the     dehasL-nieiU     and 


overthrow  of  every  republic  that  lias 
disappeared  from  the  map  of  the  world. 
Inattention  and  indifference  to  public 
affiiirs  are  the  dangers  to  which  all 
popular  governments  are  most  exposed. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 


WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  50  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.00  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


J  ICLF  (N) 


11  Apr  5  21 


UBRARV  USE 


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^^McElVED 


AUG  2  3 '66 -5  PM 


LOAN  DEPT. 


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LD  21-100m-8,'34 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ^         ORNIA  UBRARY 


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